At least ten workers at Apple's Chennai manufacturing facility tested positive for Covid-19, according to Foxconn. The iPhone manufacturing business continued to operate after the Taiwanese company said it took all necessary safety precautions in hospitalizing the patients and sanitizing the facility. However, since over 100 workers tested positive for Covid-19, Foxconn's Chennai facility's production capacity has been reduced by half.

According to Reuters, Foxconn is having trouble keeping up with its full iPhone production capacity. It has now been reduced to almost half of the workforce, with over 100 workers contaminated.

Foxconn has made plans for the workers who have kept the factory going. It has built on-site dormitory housing for the workers, who have been doing well so far. Employees and other personnel are not allowed to come in from the outside until late May, so that on-site workers do not get infected. “Only a small portion of the output is kept,” according to a Reuters article citing sources.

“We have been working closely with local governments and public health authorities in India to resolve the problems that we and all companies are facing in coping with the COVID-19 crisis,” Foxconn told Reuters. Foxconn, on the other hand, has not verified the reduction in Apple iPhone production at its Chennai factory. The current manufacturing capacity was not listed in Reuters' study, except to state that it had been halved.

The second wave of Covid-19 has wreaked havoc on Chennai and the rest of Tamil Nadu, making it one of India's worst-affected states. According to the state government's health bulletin, the state is registering close to 30,000 Covid-19 positive patients every day, with a death toll of about 300. The Tamil Nadu government declared earlier this week that the state will be placed on lockdown starting Monday. The lockdown has given manufacturing industries some leeway, which is why Foxconn and other businesses have been running.

Apart from Foxconn, Wistron, another iPhone maker, had to close its Karnataka facility for three days after five workers tested positive for Covid-19. The facility appears to have reopened, but there is no details available about the current production potential.

The iPhone's availability in India and other countries where units are exported would be impacted by the drop in production capacity at Foxconn. In India, Foxconn and Wistron are now producing the iPhone 12, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, and iPhone SE 2020. Apple has remained silent on the topic.

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Apple is delaying a new privacy feature in the next version of its iPhone operating system that will make it more difficult for app makers to track people online to help sell digital ads.

The decision outlined Thursday affects iOS 14, which is expected to be released as a free software upgrade to roughly a billion iPhone users later this month. Apple intended iOS 14 to automatically block tracking as soon as it came out, but the company now says it will hold back the tool until early next year.

The same safeguard was supposed be in the next operating systems for iPads and Apple TVs, too.

The feature would require apps to explicitly ask users to permission to collect and share data about their online behavior through a unique code that identifies every iPhone. That requirement raised fears that most people would block the tracking, making it more difficult for free apps to sell the ads that generate most of their revenue.

Currently, apps are automatically given a tracking code unless users of iPhones and other Apple devices go to the extra trouble of changing their privacy controls on their own.

Facebook, which runs the largest digital ad network behind Google, last week warned that the new privacy feature in iOS 14 threatened to deliver a major blow to many apps at a time they are already struggling amid a coronavirus-triggered recession.

Although Apple is postponing the new anti-tracking tool, the Cupertino, California, company emphasized that it shouldn’t be interpreted as a sign it is backing down from its outspoken commitment to protect the privacy of its customers as a “fundamental right.”

“We want to give developers the time they need to make the necessary changes” to apps and advertising models, the company said in a statement.

Apple’s postponement disappointed those trying to combat the digital surveillance that’s inherent in online tracking, said Craig Danuloff, CEO of The Privacy Co., which recently introduced its own privacy app to help protect iPhone users from prying eyes.

“One can only see this delay as harming millions of users who do not at all understand the level of tracking that’s going on,” Danuloff said.

source: AP

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The European Commission said Friday it is appealing a court decision that Apple doesn’t have to repay 13 billion euros ($15 billion) in back taxes to Ireland.

The appeal comes after the U.S. tech giant scored a big recent legal victory in its long battle with the European Union’s executive Commission, which has been trying to rein in multinationals’ ability to strike special tax deals with individual EU countries.

The EU’s General Court ruled that the commission wrongly declared in 2016 that Apple was given illegal state aid when it struck a low tax rate agreement with Irish authorities.

The EU Commission “respectfully considers that in its judgment the General Court has made a number of errors of law. For this reason, the Commission is bringing this matter before the European Court of Justice,” the bloc’s highest court, Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said.

The judgment can only be appealed on points of law. Vestager said it raises important legal issues that are relevant to applying rules against unfair state aid to tax cases.

The EU Commission had ordered Apple to pay for gross underpayment of tax on profits across the European bloc from 2003 to 2014. The commission said Apple used two shell companies in Ireland to report its Europe-wide profits at effective rates well under 1%.

In many cases, multinationals can pay taxes on the bulk of their revenue across the EU’s 27 countries in one EU country where they have regional headquarters. For Apple and many other U.S. tech companies, that’s Ireland. For small EU countries like Ireland, that helps attract international business and even a small amount of tax revenue is helpful for them. The net result, however, is that the companies often end up paying very low taxes.

The Irish government said it has always been clear that Apple paid the correct amount of tax and did not get state aid. It noted the appeal could take up to two years.

Apple said the case was never about how much tax it pays but where it’s required to pay. The appeal “will not alter the factual conclusions of the General Court, which proves that we have always abided by the law in Ireland, as we do everywhere we operate,” the company said.

Source: AP

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Apple also updated the Apple TV 4K, which has a few improvements over the 2017 model, including the A12 processor. Let's take a closer look at the Apple TV 4K (2021), including its specifications, features, and estimated price in Nepal.

Overview of Apple TV 4K (2021):

The new Apple TV 4K includes the A12 Bionic processor and an updated Siri remote. The addition of the A12 chip improves graphics output, video encoding, and audio processing significantly. This streaming box also supports HDR videos at 60 frames per second and Dolby Vision for better picture quality.

Apple also stated that they are working with leading content providers such as NBCUniversal and Fox Sports to continue streaming high frame rate content in HDR.

The Apple TV 4K, which will be released in 2021, will be able to work with the iPhone to improve picture quality. Using the iPhone's light sensor, it compares the color balance to industry-standard specifications. With the information gathered, it can automatically customize your TV's video quality to provide more realistic colors and better contrast, all without requiring you to change any TV settings.

Specifications:

• Processor: Apple A12 Bionic chip

• Video: H.264/HEVC SDR, HEVC Dolby Vision (Up to 4K, 60fps)

• Audio: Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 surround sound

• Siri Remote: Bluetooth 5.0, IR transmitter, rechargeable battery

• Ports: 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x Gigabit Ethernet, Built-in power supply

Another noteworthy upgrade is the Siri remote. It's been completely redesigned, with a new clickpad control that allows for five-way navigation. Users can also access the "jog" button by swiping their finger around the clickpad's outer ring, which is useful for finding a specific scene in a movie or show. With the purchase of an Apple TV 4K, you will additionally receive a one-year subscription to Apple TV+.

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