Apple, which was accused by the Italian government of failing to declare more than $1.3B of income when paying corporation tax in the country, has now agreed to pay the full €318M ($347M) claimed by the Italian tax office. The company has 16 Apple Stores in Italy.

Apple was accused of funnelling profits from Italian sales through its Irish subsidiary in order to benefit from the lower tax rate the company had agreed there. (Those tax arrangements are the subject of a separate EU investigation.)

La Repubblica (via The Local) reports Apple Italia was listed as a “consultant” for Apple Ireland, enabling the company to book profits through Ireland, paying just 2.5% tax under the terms of an agreement said to have first been reached with Steve Jobs back in the 1980s …

Apple channels most of its European profits through Ireland. It has been suggested that the agreement between Apple and the Irish government, exempting the company from the normal 12.5% paid by most companies, is illegal. An EU investigation into the arrangements has recently been expanded and extended.

Should that ruling go against Apple, the company would have to pay the difference for up to ten years. The company last year warned shareholders of this possibility, stating that the amount would be ‘material’ but that it was unable to estimate the amount. The Financial Times last year estimated it at $2.5B. Apple would not, however, be subject to any fines or penalties: the law would have been broken by the Irish government rather than by Apple.

Apple has always taken the line that it pays every dollar that it owes, Tim Cook recently describing claims that it avoids tax as “political crap.”

Photo: Apple (Euroma2 store, Rome)

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: AAPL, Apple Inc, Apple Italy, Apple tax investigation, EC, EU, Italy, Steve Jobs, Tax, tax investigation, Taxes

Continue reading more about iOS Devices, Steve Jobs, and Apple Inc at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “Apple has agreed to settle $347M Italian tax claim in full after profits were funnelled through Ireland” with our community.

Rumors that Apple will be switching from IPS LCD to OLED displays for future iPhones have been doing the rounds for many years – though the latest one reported by Reuters does get a little more specific than most.

LG and Samsung Display are close to a final agreement with Apple for the screens, the Electronic Times report said, adding the two Korean firms plan a combined 15 trillion won ($12.8 billion) in capital expenditure to build up OLED production capacity over the next two to three years.

It was claimed last month that Apple plans to start using OLED screens for iPhones starting in 2018, supporting an earlier report that Apple would be sticking with LCD for the iPhone 7.

There are pros and cons to the competing display technologies …

OLED displays can be thinner than the LCD technology used in current iPhone screens, and allow far deeper blacks – a feature Apple puts to good use in the Apple Watch, where it’s virtually impossible to tell where the display ends and the bezel begins. Jony Ive is a fan for this reason.

OLED is also more power-efficient than LCD where the majority of the content is black, as it is with the Apple Watch, but this would not deliver much benefit in an iPhone unless Apple used a black theme for a future version of iOS.

Finally, OLED also allows more vivid colors, though this can be a mixed blessing, making photos appear over-saturated.

On the downside, OLED has higher manufacturing costs, displays have a shorter lifespan and don’t match the brightness of LCD. Back in 2013, Tim Cook cited both brightness and color accuracy as drawbacks of OLED screens.

Samsung is said to be likely to get the bigger slice of the pie than LG, with Apple reportedly planning to provide both companies with funding to help with setup costs.

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: Apple Inc, iPhone, iPhone display LCD or OLED, IPS LCD, lcd, LCD vs OLED, Liquid crystal display, OLED

Check out 9to5Mac for more breaking coverage of iOS Devices, iPhone, and Apple Inc.

What do you think? Discuss “The rumors of iPhones with OLED screens gather pace: Apple said to be ‘close to agreement’ with suppliers” with our community.

In a new class action lawsuit, Apple is being accused of deceptive trade practices and false advertising due to its claims of iOS 9 being compatible with older iOS devices, primarily the iPhone 4s. The lawsuit claims that iOS “significantly interferes” with the performance of the iPhone 4s and that Apple is in the wrong for not allow users to downgrade to older versions of the operating system.

The lawsuit, which has more than 100 backers, goes as far to say that the iPhone 4s was rendered essentially unusable by the iOS 9 update (via AI). The members of the suit claim that app performance, of both first- and third-party apps, was hindered by the update, as was general device performance and touchscreen responsiveness. Some members claim they experienced freezes and crashes, as well.

The actual performance of the device is just the beginning of the suit, however. The lawsuit asserts that Apple, through “internal testing and/or through other means,” was aware of the effects iOS 9 would have on the iPhone 4s, yet it went through with the update and even advertised things like increased performance and battery life as improvements in the update. The plaintiffs argue that Apple should have at least warned iPhone 4s owners of the potential issues.

It doesn’t stop there, however. The suit goes on to argue that because of the iOS ecosystem, users are far more likely to buy a new iOS device than switch to a competition platform like Android. The plaintiffs argue that users don’t want to reinvest in nontransferable content such as apps.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are seeking more than $5 million in damages.

iOS 9 was criticized across the board when it first launched for slowing down even the newest generation devices. In our poll, 43 percent of some 33,000 responders said their iPhone was “significantly slower after the update.” iOS 9.1, however, claimed to fix that issue for most. The plaintiffs in this case, however, argue that the primary issue is “planned obsolescence” on Apple’s part.

Filed under: iOS, iOS Devices Tagged: Apple, iOS 9, iPhone 4S, Lawsuit, legal

For more information about iOS Devices, Apple, and iOS continue reading at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “Apple hit with class action lawsuit over iOS 9’s performance on older iPhones” with our community.

Whether you’re brand new to the Apple Watch or you’ve been wearing yours since day one, there are a few key tips everyone should know to get the most out of the new smartwatch. Many of these actually weren’t available on day one and only became possible recently, and each of these I’ve found essential to having the best experience possible. Knowing the best apps to add new features is a great start, and each of these tips presented in no particular order will make your Apple Watch even better.

1. Don’t Install All Available Apps. When you first pair your new Apple Watch with your iPhone, the Watch companion app walks you through multiple setup steps that let you choose your wrist and set a passcode. Syncing your apps from your iPhone to your Apple Watch is one of the last steps and one that can potentially overwhelm you depending on which way you go.

Choose ‘Install All’ and every single iPhone app with an Apple Watch version will sync over and take a little longer to finish pairing, or pick ‘Choose Later’ and pairing will finish quicker and you can decide which apps you want to try next in the companion Watch app on the iPhone. It’s not a big deal if your iPhone only has a few apps installed, but mine’s collected a lot of single-purpose apps like Fandango that just don’t have recommendable Apple Watch apps.

If you do install every app, you can go through the Watch companion app and toggle off ones you don’t like, or click the Digital Crown button on the side of the Apple Watch to see the app grid, then press and hold over the icons to enter wiggle mode where you can tap and delete apps from the Watch.

2. Decide Which Glances Are Useful. Once you’ve decided which apps you want to install and which aren’t worth getting in the way, take a stroll through your Apple Watch glances and decide which of these are beneficial and which ones slow you down.

Glances are the little information cards and control panels that appear when you swipe up from your Apple Watch face. They’re organized linearly through paginated screens so swiping through several to find the one you want can be a lot of work when convenience is the name of the game.

I’m currently using 7 glances with the most frequently accessed up front: Settings, Now Playing, Weather, Battery, Activity, Calendar, and Heartbeat. By default glances for Maps, Stocks, and World Clock are also included, but these aren’t useful to me personally.

You can further customize glances by adding third-party app glances including ones for many of my best app recommendations. To manage glances, use the Watch app on your iPhone to select Glances from the My Watch tab then tap Edit in the top right corner. From here you can add, remove, and rearrange your glances. Note that the Settings glance is required, although you can place it at the bottom if you want to avoid it.

3. Change Wake Screen On Tape Duration. Apple Watch keeps its screen off most of the time in order to preserve battery life, but that can limit its use as a real watch replacement in some situations which I noted in my initial review in May. The first major software update for Apple Watch, watchOS 2, added a new setting that lets you fix this problem.

By default, Apple Watch stays lit for 15 seconds when you raise your wrist or tap the display (which I didn’t know worked for my first week of testing). You can change that duration to 70 seconds, which smartly gets you just over 1 minute of screen-on time before you need to interact again. With either option, Apple Watch will dim again when you lower your wrist.

On the Watch app for iPhone, change this from the My Watch tab under General > Wake Screen > On Tap: Wake for 70 Seconds. This small setting has eased a lot of frustration for me without any noticeable hit on battery life.

4. Organize Your Apps. You can customize your Apple Watch app layout just like you can rearrange the apps on your iPhone Home screen. App icons are circles instead of rounded rectangles and the layout is more honeycomb-like than a grid, but pressing and holding on an icon still puts you in jiggle mode and you can move apps around to where you prefer.

Personally, I maintain the default layout for Apple’s apps for reference with one exception. I swap Alarm and World Clock as well as Timer and Stopwatch; I use Alarm and Timer frequently, but World and Stopwatch which are centered by default rarely. For most people, however, I recommend putting your most frequently used apps whether it’s Workout or Instagram around the clock in the center for quick access.

Beyond that, I like to group similar apps together around Apple’s apps. News apps, work apps, social apps, and utility apps are all placed in their own groups. You can’t make folders like on iPhones, but these app neighborhoods and a little muscle memory make apps more useful.

Pro tip: rearranging apps from the Apple Watch can be a bit tricky, so use the App Layout section in the Watch app on iPhone instead.

5. Use Apple Pay. I hear from a lot of Apple Watch owners that Apple Pay is one of the most popular uses for the device. It’s both convenient and James Bond spy-like to smoothly pay for something at checkout with your watch.

To set it up, go to the Watch app on iPhone, My Watch tab, then look for the Wallet & Apple Pay section and Add Credit or Debit Card option. Apple Pay is always looking for readers on iPhones, but you have to double-click the side button below the Digital Crown to activate Apple Pay on Apple Watch.

Apple Pay only works on iPhone 6 or later, but you can actually use Apple Pay on the Apple Watch with iPhone 5 or later including iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s. Once it’s set up, it works even without your iPhone around too.

6. Sync Music + Photos. Apple Watch includes plenty of local storage for syncing music and photos, and you can even enjoy media from your Apple Watch when you’re away from your iPhone.

While your Apple Watch is charging, go to the Watch app > My Watch tab > Music section to choose a playlist to sync. This can even be an Apple Music playlist if you’re a subscriber to Apple’s subscription music service. Note that Apple Watch limits either 2GB or 250 songs of synced music.

Similarly, go to the Watch app > My Watch tab > Photos section to manage photo syncing. You can decide which single album to sync and whether you want to sync up to 25, 100, 250, or 500 photos. I’ve got mine set to sync up to 500 photos from my Favorites album, then I heart photos on my iPhone and they appear later on my Apple Watch. You can even see new Live Photos on Apple Watch. Photos look best on giant displays, but having my favorite ones synced on my Apple Watch is sort of like the modern-day set of wallet photos.

7. Pair Bluetooth Headphones/Speakers. Once you’ve got your favorite music playlist sync, you need to pair Bluetooth headphones or a speaker to your Apple Watch to enjoy it. This lets you workout and listen to music wirelessly from your Apple Watch without your iPhone, or you can play music from your Apple Watch and record video on your iPhone without interrupting the playback.

Once you’ve got your wireless headphones or speakers ready to pair, go to the Settings app on the Apple Watch by clicking the Digital Crown button from the watch face then tapping the gears icon from the app layout. Then tap Bluetooth near the top of the Settings list, and look for your Bluetooth device. From the watch face, you can manage which device you play music to by swiping up the Settings glance and tapping the AirPlay (source) button in the lower right corner. In the Music app, scroll down from the main list to choose your music source: iPhone or Apple Watch.

8. Customize Your Watch Face. Changing and personalizing the watch face on your Apple Watch is easily what makes or breaks the whole experience. What you see every time you glance at your wrist is where everything starts, and personalizing it to look how you want it to is equally important. Like with changing watch bands, I change between different watch faces depending on my mood and the situation.

Force Touch (deep press) the watch face to enter the mode that lets you change what you see. Tap customize to change which complications (widgets), colors, and images you see depending on the watch face, swipe left and right to see different options for each watch face, and use the Digital Crown to scroll through your options.

After you Force Touch a watch face to customize it, you can optionally swipe up to delete it, or swipe to the far right to create new watch faces. Apple doesn’t allow developers to create custom watch faces yet, you’ll need an Apple Watch Hermès for unique ones, but the next tip will let you personalize your watch face further.

9. Create Photo Watch Faces. Once you’ve synced a photo album from your iPhone to your Apple Watch, there are two watch faces that let you view photos with the current time: Photo Album and Photo. The first one lets you cycle through your entire synced album, viewing a different photo each time you check your watch. The second one lets you pick a single photo as your watch face with the current time above it.

Pick either of these by Force Touching (deep pressing) your current watch face, then swiping over to the watch face you choose. Pick customize below Photo, then use the Digital Crown to scroll out and view all your synced photos and tap the one you want to use. Live Photos shot on new iPhones will animate each time you raise your wrist.

You can also create multiple photo watch faces. Once you’ve synced your photo album from iPhone to Apple Watch, the easiest way to create new photo watch faces is right in the Photos app on Apple Watch. From the watch face, click the Digital Crown button then tap the Photos icon with the multicolor flower just like on your iPhone. Scroll with the Digital Crown to zoom in and out, and move your finger across the screen to pan around.

Tap the photo you want to use once you find it, then Force Touch (press firmly) on the photo to bring up the Create Watch Face button. Tapping that button brings you to your newly created photo watch face.

10. Use Nightstand Mode. My last pick is totally simple but something I find delightful. Apple added Nightstand Mode to Apple Watch with the watchOS 2 update a few months ago, adding functionality to the Apple Watch even when it’s docked and charging.

To use it, just turn Apple Watch on its side with the buttons facing up while it’s charging. You enter an alarm clock-style mode that shows the current time, charge status, day, date, and notification indicator. If you have an alarm set, you’ll see that too and you can even use the Digital Crown and side button to dismiss and snooze your alarm.

The display doesn’t stay on permanently but does light up when it senses motion or receives a tap which I find works well. The display will also gradually illuminate near the time that your alarm sounds off. Perhaps out of habit I still rely on my iPhone as my daily alarm clock, but I use Nightstand Mode to check the time without seeing alerts on my iPhone at night. I’d love if there was an option to leave the clock mode lit up anytime Apple Watch is charging … maybe in 2016.

Spigen Apple Watch Night Stand dock (Review)

Have your own favorite Apple Watch tips and tricks? Let us know in the comments below! Also see our Apple Watch review + watchOS 2 walkthrough for more in-depth Apple Watch information.

Filed under:
How-To, Apple Watch Tagged: Apple watch

Visit 9to5Mac to find more special coverage of Apple watch, Apple Watch, and
How-To.

What do you think? Discuss “10 Apple Watch tips & tricks to unlock features + enhance the experience” with our community.

Two new reports today from publications with mixed track records claim to share details of Apple’s upcoming iPhone lineup including the much rumored 4-inch iPhone “6c” and plans for the company to bring waterproofing and other new hardware features to future iPhone models. 

The first report comes from Chinese blog MyDrivers and claims to have more specs for an upcoming 4-inch iPhone 6c courtesy of what they call reliable supply chain sources. Specifically, the report claims the new device will have a 1642mAh battery, which is notably larger than Apple’s latest 4-inch iPhone, the iPhone 5c. In addition, the site backs up other recent reports noting an A9 processor, 16GB of storage, Touch ID, and 2GB of RAM as other specs reportedly planned for the device.

If Apple is to introduce the new 4-inch iPhone 6c (or whatever they decide to call it), it’s possible it could arrive at the company’s next press event that we reported earlier this month that is currently scheduled for March.

In a separate report today, this one from Chinese publication Commercial Times (via Digitimes), Apple is reportedly planning waterproofing features for upcoming iPhones. The detail is mentioned in a report on Apple supplier Catcher Technology, which going into next year will “remain as the largest chassis supplier for Apple’s upcoming new iPhone products.” 

It doesn’t specify which new models if not all would receive the waterproofing, but adds that upcoming iPhones will also receive a “new compound materials to hide the antenna”, which has been unsightly on recent iPhone designs.

Filed under: iOS Devices Tagged: 2016, 4-inch, iPhone 6c, iPhone 7, iPhones, larger battery, March event, next year, RAM, specs, waterproof

Continue reading more about iOS Devices, iPhone 7, and RAM at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “New reports claim to share details of upcoming iPhones, 4-inch specs, waterproofing & more” with our community.

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

Daily Deals: Sharp AQUOS 55-inch Smart 4K Ultra HDTV $600, Logitech MX Master Wireless Mouse $79, more

Samsung 850 EVO 2.5-inch Internal Solid-State Drives: 250GB $74 (Reg. $90), 500GB $140 (Reg. $150+)

HP Officejet Pro 8610 e-All-in-One Inkjet Printer w/ AirPrint $50 shipped (Reg. $100)

$100 iTunes Physical Gift Card for $80 shipped (20% off): save on apps, music, movies, more!

Write-Off Week™: Last chance to write off biz expenses w/ best deals on office equipment, tech, supplies, more

Apple iPad Air 2 Smart Cover $18 (Reg. $35), Smart Case $35 (Reg. $70), more

Starbucks $15 gift card for $10: save 30% on your favorite drinks!

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

Add 1,800mAh of power to your iPhone USB wall charger w/ the NomadPlus for $15 Prime shipped (Orig. $40)

• Games/Apps: New Nintendo 3DS XL Hyrule Gold Edition $175, amiibo from $8, more
• LG Music Flow P7 Bluetooth Speaker: $60 shipped (Reg. $90+)

Apple’s 12-inch 512GB MacBook hits its lowest price yet: $1,400 or $1350 w/ .EDU (Reg $1599) wp.me/p1xTlR-LPc https://t.co/q94mXhXD2x

—
9to5Toys (@9to5toys) December 29, 2015

MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

Apple-certified Lightning 3600mAh Aukey Portable Battery Pack + MFi cable: $10 shipped

Anker iPhone/iPad accessories: Car Chargers from $6, Nylon MFi Lightning Cable $8, more

iTunes is hosting a rare sale on HD movies, including $5 titles + heavily discounted bundles

Hundreds of iOS/Mac games & apps are on sale for the holidays, these are the best ones you can’t afford to miss

B&H: $70 off Apple Watch Stainless PLUS $100 Gift card (Tax only in NY) starting at $379 effective

iPad mini 3 Wi-Fi: 16GB $250 (Orig. $399), 128GB $425 (Orig. $599)

Best Buy Apple sale: iPad Air 2 $125 off, iPad Air $100 off, iPad mini 4 $100 off, much more!

Apple TV 32GB (4th generation) w/ Siri remote + 6-ft HDMI cable: $126 shipped (~$155 value)

• Macbook Air 11.6″ Core i5 4GB/128GB w/.edu: $700 shipped ($750 without .edu or less)
• TurboTax 2015 for Mac/PC price drops: Deluxe $40, Premier $55, more
• Logitech K380 Multi-Device Bluetooth Keyboard for iPhone/iPad/Mac: $30 (Reg. $40)
• No setup or batteries required! Belkin MFi Lightning iPad Keyboard: $34 (Reg. $60)
• Media: Burn Notice Complete Series $48 (Reg. $80), more
• Google Chromecast v1: $20 shipped (Orig. $35)
• CBS All Access: Free two-month trial for Chromecast owners ($12 value)
• Fashion: Nike extra 25% off clearance – Vapor Jacket $82 (Orig. $130), more
• Save 75% on any movie rental from Amazon, watch Marvel’s Ant-Man for just $1.50
• Year-End Android Game Deals: NBA Jam $.10, Goat Simulator $.99, more
• 1Password for Mac drops to $32 for the holiday season (Reg. $50)
• DuckTales: Remastered for iOS goes on sale for the very first time: $1 (Reg. $10)
• Grab the entire Infinity Blade Trilogy on iOS for just $1 each ($20 value)
• Get 12 months of Adobe’s Creative Cloud plan with Photoshop for $96 (20% savings)
• Digits, the calculator for humans on iOS drops to just $1 (Reg. $4)
• Xbox Store Digital Sale: Save on games, DLCs, more + free trials for streaming services

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

Thimble’s DIY robot subscription service launches on Kickstarter to great success

Here are the Holiday Best Sellers from Amazon’s record-breaking year

• ShiftWear sneakers use flexible displays to showcase custom artwork on your shoes
• The new iOS-connected Hamwells e-Shower recycles your water
• Hult blends copper and concrete in a stunning modern take on the Bluetooth speaker
• Get Canary’s all-in-one home security system + air quality sensor for $179 (Reg. $200)

Filed under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: 9to5Toys Lunch Break

For more information about Tips and Tricks and 9to5Toys Lunch Break continue reading at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “9to5Toys Lunch Break: Sharp 55″ 4K UHDTV $600, Samsung 250GB SSD $74, HP All-in-One Printer w/ AirPrint $50, more” with our community.

If Apple only includes one new standout feature on its second-generation Apple Watch next year, what should it be? We already asked you if you’re still wearing your Apple Watch eight months after the device’s launch, and now we want to know what features will get you to upgrade or purchase Apple’s upcoming next-gen smartwatch.

Apple Watch 2 is coming, likely at a press event that we reported a few weeks back that is currently scheduled for March. Some of the possibilities for the new device include a FaceTime camera, standalone Wi-Fi, sleep tracking, and health sensor technologies, all of which we reported Apple has in development internally.

Those seem like natural progressions for the device — independent Wi-Fi will give it freedom from an iPhone connection, while a camera for video chat and additional health sensors seem to be highly-requested by both customers and reviewers — but it’s still unknown which of those features will make the final cut. It’s also possible Apple will surprise everyone with other unique features, like a smart strap platform that allows third-party band makers to integrate additional sensors, batteries, or other tech that interfaces with the Apple Watch.

Personally, I purchased the first Apple Watch out of curiosity as a semi-enthusiastic owner of traditional watches, but mostly because as a writer for 9to5Mac I like to have hands-on experience with most new Apple products I cover. Apart from work, though, I likely won’t be upgrading to an Apple Watch 2 for personal use; I’ve already hung up my first-generation Apple Watch for good and I can’t imagine a feature that would get me to shell out another $400-$1000 for a new Watch when Apple inevitably announces a new generation sometime next year.

What will encourage you to upgrade from the first-generation Apple Watch? Or if you were a holdout on the first release, which of these features will inspire you to purchase the second-generation as your first Apple Watch?

Head below to cast your vote in the poll (and continue the discussion in the comments).

Filed under: Apple Watch Tagged: Apple watch, Apple Watch 2, FaceTime camera, features, March, next-generation, sensors, smart strap, Upgrade, video chat, Wi-Fi

Visit 9to5Mac to find more special coverage of Apple watch, Apple Watch, and Wi-Fi.

What do you think? Discuss “Poll: What features do you want to see in the next-generation Apple Watch 2?” with our community.

Apple is typically pretty tight lipped about product and user stats and data unless it has a giant number it wants to share. We’re told number of iPhones sold on opening weekend and total billions of dollars paid out to developers in total, but we don’t know how many Apple Watches have been sold or which iPads are most popular.

But analyst Kirk Burgess points out on Twitter that Apple’s Game Center app openly boasts how many users it has with a giant number hidden in plain sight. Take a guess at just how many “players” Apple’s social gaming network has racked up in total. The answer: about 77,000 more than it had about 8 hours ago.

You can see the total number of Game Center users from the Friends tab within the app below your list of friends. The total count at the time of writing is 405,519,488 players. This likely counts every Game Center account ever created including users that don’t consider themselves “players” and I personally have two accounts thanks to the limits of Apple ID merging, but it’s still an interesting number that Apple exposes and you can watch grow over time.

Keep in mind also that Game Center is available on iPhones, iPads, iPod touches, and Macs, but one account is used on each device so it definitely doesn’t equal total devices. But Game Center is also pushed during setup so the number climbing likely does have some relation to first-time Apple customers activating new devices.

Now to figure out why there’s no Game Center channel on the new Apple TV yet …

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Game Center

For more information about AAPL Company and Game Center continue reading at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “Just how many users does Apple’s Game Center actually have?” with our community.

The Apple Watch was released 8 months ago and it has been met with a wide array of responses from users. The device presented a new dilemma for Apple. Instead of something like an iPhone, which while meant to be used daily, is not meant to necessarily be constantly sending you notifications, Apple Watch’s purpose is to keep you alert 24/7. As I’ve learned over the last 8 months, that has its own benefits and drawbacks.

Personally, I was never entirely sold on Apple Watch when it was announced. I wasn’t convinced that I wanted to be constantly notified of everything going on online. I was perfectly content with the idea of pulling out my iPhone when I wanted to be updated and leaving it in my pocket while trying to disconnect and enjoy those around me. Nevertheless, I ended up buying an Apple Watch on launch day and now that the aura of it being a shiny new product has worn off, I’ve come to realize that it hasn’t affected my life as significantly as Apple had hoped it would.

My original instinct of not wanting to be connected 24/7 was entirely true. I really am not a fan of receiving every notification as soon as it comes in. I use technology so often in my life that when I’m not working, I really like to disconnect and avoid Twitter and basically digital communication as a whole. This has led to me only wearing my Apple Watch a few days a week and for a device that is meant to be always attached to your wrist, I don’t think that’s what Apple intended for the use patterns of its customers to be.

I understand that I may be in the minority here. A lot of people probably love the idea of being always connected to the web and to never miss a notification, but I don’t. I’ve found that when I get too attached to technology, I get burnt out even more quickly than I do normally with technology.

While the issue goes deeper than the Apple Watch itself for me, there are things Apple could do to improve it and maybe convince me to wear it on a more regular basis. Primarily, it needs to be faster. It seems like every time I turn to my Watch to do something like check the weather or view reminders, I’m hit with the spinning loading wheel for far too long before the actual content itself appears.

One of the features Apple touted most for the Watch was Health. The idea of using the device to better yourself health-wise is a huge appeal for many users, myself included. I love using the device to track my steps and physical activity for the day, but there’s one issue. My physical activity of choice is playing basketball and the Apple Watch is not comfortable enough at all to wear while playing basketball in my experience. It’s simply too big. In Apple’s defense, there aren’t many wearables that are small enough to wear while playing basketball. But, then again, maybe I’m in the minority in thinking the Apple Watch isn’t meant for basketball.

This is a similar experience as to what Sarah experienced when she sent her Apple Watch off to get replaced. Sarah explained that while she likes her Apple Watch, it hasn’t significantly changed or altered her life. On the other hand, Ben started out as a smartwatch skeptic but has now been totally assimilated.

We reported earlier this month that Apple was planning a March event to unveil the Apple Watch 2. As we reported in June, Apple has been working on new camera, wireless, sleep tracking, and health sensor technologies for the device, but it’s unclear what exactly will make it into the second generation wearable.

The idea of already upgrading my $700 Apple Watch to a new model seems absurd to me at this point. I never thought the Watch would be something that needed to be refreshed every year. As of right now, I’m leaning towards either not upgrading or opting for the lower-end Sport variants over the stainless steel model I chose this year.

But, as always, your mileage may vary. Are you still wearing your Apple Watch everyday? If so, tell us why in the comments below. If not, what would make you change your opinion and become a more regular user?

Filed under: Apple Watch Tagged: Apple, Apple watch, Opinion, poll

Check out 9to5Mac for more breaking coverage of Apple, Apple watch, and Apple Watch.

What do you think? Discuss “Poll: 8 months in, are you still wearing your Apple Watch everyday?” with our community.

Every year during the holiday season Apple products top the wish lists of many consumers and end up being one of the top gifted items when it’s all said and done. Now, Yahoo-run analytics firm Flurry Insights has shared the gift giving trends for this holiday season, again showing that Apple devices were among the most popular items received this year.

Of all new devices activated during Christmas week Apple accounted for 49.1 percent of them. That’s down slightly from the 51.3 percent it was responsible for last year. Samsung devices accounted for 19.8 percent of new device activations, up from 17.7 percent in 2014. Samsung’s rise in sales, Flurry says, was driven by the Galaxy Grand Prime, Core Prime, and S6.

As far as device trends in general, phablets saw a huge surge in popularity this year. In 2014, phablets accounted for just 13 percent of Christmas week activations. This year, they accounted for 27 percent of activations, representing a 2x increase in sales. Small phones, with a screen size of 3.5-inches or less, accounted for just 1 percent of activations. Small tablets, such as the iPad mini, accounted for 9 percent of activations, down from 11 percent in 2014, showing that many are opting for phablets over small tablets. iPad Pro accounted for less than 1 percent of device activations.

Christmas Day was also a huge day for app downloads. Flurry says that compared to the average daily installs for the first three weeks of December, Christmas Day saw a 2.2x increase in app downloads across the board. When you consider all the new devices activated, it makes sense for there to be such a huge increase in app sales that day as well.

Apple always sees a surge in sales during the holiday season and this year appears to be no different, even with it being an iterative year in terms of iPhone upgrades for the company with the launch of the 6s and 6s Plus. Likewise, these trends also show how Apple somewhat cannibalizes sales of its own products, like the iPhone 6 Plus/6s Plus taking some sales of the iPad mini.

Let us know in the comments if you were gifted any Apple products this year!

Filed under: iOS, iOS Devices Tagged: Apple, Christmas, Gifts, holiday, iPad, iPhone

For more information about iOS Devices, Apple, and iPhone continue reading at 9to5Mac.

What do you think? Discuss “Apple again controls holiday sales, accounting for 49% of activations as phablets dominate” with our community.