People are usually quick to grab opportunities for them to have the latest and hottest gadget available in the market such as the Apple iPhone. However, when it comes to gadgets that could help improve lives, they usually take their time. Technology breakthrough devices, such as hearing aids, are in high demand right among the elderly and children, but can’t seem to generate enough demand that will warrant a huge marketing blitz and make people wait in queue.

One reason could be the difference in cost or maybe it was just plain 'uncool' to sports a hearing aid nowadays. Whatever the reasons, hearing-aid manufacturers and audiologists are confident that the new collaboration between them and Apple will help.

Apple and Danish hearing-aid company GN ReSound announced in late February the development of a new hearing aid that's compatible with the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Called LiNX, the device syncs wirelessly with the newest Apple mobile devices and takes advantage of iOS 7's new accessibility options for the hearing-impaired.

At its most basic level, the LiNX acts like a hybrid of hearing aids and stereo Bluetooth headphones. Phone calls, FaceTime chats, music, movies, turn-by-turn navigation or other audio can be streamed directly to a small earpiece. When they're not pulling in audio from a smartphone or tablet, the hearing aids work like normal, picking up in-person conversations and surrounding sounds.

This being Apple, there are plenty of bells and whistles packed in. A feature called Live Listen turns an iOS device into microphone. If someone's in a loud environment – a busy meeting, a sporting event, a noisy car – and wants to focus on one person's voice and cut down on background noise, they can get a stream directly from the smartphone's mic to their ears. (This feature has the potential for some fun eavesdropping mischief.)

Using GPS, you can save custom settings for a specific location, say a movie theater or your cubicle at work, and get a pop-up notification on your mobile device asking whether you'd like to switch every time you return to that spot. Don't remember where you left your hearing aids? Use a phone or tablet to locate them.

Apple and the device's makers hope it will encourage more people with hearing loss to get help earlier.

"Right now, people wait about eight years on average between the time they think they have a hearing problem and when they see someone about it," said audiologist Dr. Ken Smith.

More than 36 million people in the U.S. have some hearing loss, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, but only one out of five people who need a hearing aid actually have one. However, if rumors are true that a single LiNX hearing aid will cost about US$ 3,000, then, whether its Apple or Samsung, the figures won’t change drastically overnight.

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There are only two reliable sources for iPhone rumors if you really think hard about it. One would be the suppliers of iPhone parts and the other would be the government regulating agencies such as the patent office.

Unconfirmed reports from the intellectual property rights custodian revealed that Apple just recently won a patent for a radical new iPhone design that imagines a wraparound bezel-free display. The possible iPhone of the future appear to have done away with the traditional physical home button that has been a staple of the iPhone ever since its launch in 2007.

The casing for the new iPhone design is also a major departure from the traditional iPhone as it looks much more like a fourth-generation iPod nano than any other smartphone Apple has ever released.

In its patent application document, Apple envisions that the new iPhone’s curved display will be made from flexible material that can present "an illusion of depth perception" capable of "mimicking a 3D experience." Apple also says that users would be able to control the volume on the phone “by holding a finger over the volume indicator” and “expanding the volume control over the entire left side of the device,” thus eliminating any need for a volume button. Patently Apple adds that “Apple’s patent also notes that the advanced iPhone design may contain several cameras and use facial recognition.”

With the rest of the year flying past faster than one can launch a new iPhone killer, it is highly unlike to see this iPhone design used in the iPhone 6 or really any other iPhone over the next couple years. What it presents is something Apple might release in the future once flexible display technology matures. This patent filing first cropped up a year ago so it’s definitely something that Apple has had on its mind for a long time now.

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About six months after it was officially launched, Apple’s iPhone 5S is still attracting American consumers. According to a survey recently conducted by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, 33 percent of U.S. consumers that planned to buy a smartphone in the next three months intended to buy an iPhone 5S.

Munster noted that this was a high level of consumer interest for a device that has been on the market some time now. "The main takeaway from our most recent smartphone purchase intent survey is that the iPhone 5S seems to have staying power," observed Munster in a note to investors.

A similar survey conducted immediately after the iPhone 5S launch last year showed that 38 percent of U.S. consumers who expected to make a smartphone purchase in the next three months intended to buy an iPhone 5S. Another survey conducted in December of 2013 showed that 35 percent of consumers intended to buy Apple's flagship device.

On the other hand, the most recent survey also showed that Apple’s cheaper version of last year's iPhone, the iPhone 5C, is rapidly losing favor with consumers who were never especially interested in the device. Only 6 percent of U.S. consumers that planned to buy a smartphone in the next three months intended to buy an iPhone 5C.

However, even immediately after the device's launch last September, only 12 percent of consumers said they intended to buy an iPhone 5C. By December of 2013, the level of consumer interest in the iPhone 5C had dropped to 9 percent, according to Piper Jaffray's surveys.

Munster believes that there are two main reasons why the iPhone 5C failed to attract higher levels of interest from consumers. First, the analyst noted that there is a "significant value increase in purchasing the 5S." The iPhone 5S features a revolutionary 64-bit A7 processor and a Touch ID fingerprint sensor. Second, the iPhone 5C’s focus on color options failed to excite consumers. "[W]e believe that the concept around colors as a unique selling point has not worked as well as it had with iPods because a significant number of smartphone users cover their smartphones with cases, which was typically not the trend for iPod owners," wrote Munster.

Although Piper Jaffray’s survey showed that a total of 39 percent of U.S. consumers that planned to buy a smartphone in the next three months intended to buy one of Apple’s devices, the survey also found that 46 percent intended to buy an Android smartphone.

It is worth noting that the survey pitted Apple – one vendor — against multiple Android device vendors. According to data from market research firm comScore, Apple’s iPhones accounted for 41.8 percent of total U.S. smartphone subscribers in December of 2013. The nearest Android smartphone vendor was Samsung with a 26.1 percent share.

Although Munster believes that, "Apple’s position as top player in the high end smartphone market remains secure," he noted that Apple’s guidance showed that the U.S. smartphone market is "rather mature." Munster maintains an “Overweight” rating and a US$ 640.00 price target on Apple shares.

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A report from tech site, BGR, seems to have captured the rumoured new images of the digitizer for Apple’s upcoming iPhone 6 model. The image, which first appeared on China’s WeiPhone forum, have since been removed, but not before being spotted and downloaded by Steve Hemmerstoffer at the French website Nowhereelse.fr.

According to BGR, the images appear to show the digitizers from an iPhone 4S and iPhone 5S alongside what is supposedly an iPhone 6 digitizer. Although the purported iPhone 6 digitizer component appears to have the same overall size as the iPhone 5S component, it has no visible side bezels.

If you look at the image closely, it can also be observed that the top and bottom bezels on the iPhone 6 digitizer also appear to be narrower than the bezels on the iPhone 5S digitizer. This could mean that Apple may be planning to boost the screen size of the iPhone 6 by eliminating and shrinking the device’s bezels.

If the details are true, it will confirm a report from the Korea Herald last month that predicted that the iPhone 6 would have a bezel-free display.

Everyone who are following the development of Apple products are aware by now that the company is also known for reusing the same components for different products in order to save on costs. As reported by Forbes’ tech commentator Ewan Spence, Apple followed this philosophy when it unveiled the original iPad mini. The iPad mini was made with displays that had the same pixel density as the iPhone, which means that Apple simply cut previously used display panels to a different size.

However, some sites are suggesting that caution must be exercised to temper high expectation. For instance, Nowhereelse.fr noted that the similarities in the overall size of the iPhone 6 digitizer to the iPhone 5S digitizer may suggest that the leaker who posted these images merely altered an iPhone 5S digitizer by removing some of the bezel material. Another potential authenticity issue with the iPhone 6 digitizer is the slightly offset placement of the home button opening. Nevertheless, it should be noted that defects such as that are not uncommon for components that are manufactured for test prototypes.

It can be recalled that a few months ago, several tech bloggers discussed rumors that the next-generation iPhone will be available in two larger screen sizes. Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that one of the upcoming iPhone models will feature a screen size larger than 4.5 inches and that the other will have a phablet-sized screen larger than 5 inches. Assuming the rumors are accurate, it would appear that the iPhone 6 digitizer, seen in these leaked images, is intended for the smaller of the upcoming iPhone models.

Aside from screen sizes, speculations are also ripe that Apple will begin using sapphire displays for the next-generation iPhones. Import/export documents obtained by 9to5Mac and analyst Matt Margolis indicated that Apple will be making “display-grade components” at a sapphire manufacturing facility run by GT Advanced Technologies that the Cupertino-based company acquired last year.

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With about 150 million units sold a year, Apple iPhone is considered as one of the most successful gadget ever produced. However, with that large volume, it has to maintain an efficient and sprawling network of suppliers making components. And this is the main reason why it is almost impossible to maintain such a wide cone of silence to protect its interest.

There is no official announcement yet, although many blogs and techno sites have already reported this, but it almost certain that the upcoming iPhone will switch to sapphire screen coating instead of the thin Corning Gorilla Glass that has been there since 2007.

We wrote about this several times in the past and it was triggered by a negotiation last November 2013 when Apple paid US$ 578 million to GT Advanced Technologies in Arizona to help it produce lots and lots of sapphire. It is the material used commonly in high-end watches because it’s so durable and scratch resistant. During that time, it wasn’t clear yet whether that meant Apple would be taking the big step of covering the whole iPhone screen with it or part of it.

Up to now, Apple has used sapphire only to cover the camera lens and the iPhone 5s fingerprint sensor. And with the rumored iWatch, it seemed possible that GT Advanced was going to make sapphire crystal primarily for that product.

Looking carefully at GT’s pronouncement about its earnings report, however, it can now be clearly assumed that it is definitely making sapphire crystal for the next iPhone unit and these phones won’t be out till the second half of 2014, as is normal. This should bury the many rumors of the iPhone arriving in May, hopefully.

GT Advanced is basically “all in” with Apple for the moment. In order to serve the Cupertino, Calif. consumer electronics giant it’s shifting its business almost entirely to Apple. GT’s revenues cratered from US$ 733 million in 2012 to US$ 299 million in 2013. It expects to do only US$ 20-30 million in the first quarter of this year and not much more in the second quarter.

However, in the second half of the year, it is looking for US$ 500-700 million for those 6 months alone. There has been a great deal of speculation as to what it would cost to cover an iPhone in sapphire, but 3-4 times the cost of a piece of Gorilla Glass, the super strong material from Corning which runs about US$ 3, has been a common estimate. Throw that estimate into the above and you find yourself looking at something around 50 million pieces, perhaps twice as many.

Given the way supply chains work and a whole host of uncertainties regarding the design of the next iPhone, it’s impossible to say exactly when and how many screen covers GT Advanced would need to make for Apple. What is clear is this kind of volume can’t be for an iWatch.

Apple might be wildly successful with the watch, but it’s not ordering parts for tens of millions of them. Not yet at least. Oh, and GT is confident that it will cross over US$ 1 billion in 2015. There is only one product that Apple — and GT — can get that kind of confidence around today. And that product is the iPhone 6.

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During the last quarter of 2013, Apple Inc Apple recorded a net profit of about US$ 13.07 billion, flat from a year ago. Its gross margins came in at 37.9 percent, roughly in line with expectations.

The obvious below par performance in the sales and revenue outlook shortfall of iPhone, however, is what drew attention many market observers towards it. This is not surprising since many on Wall Street had high expectations heading into the presentation of the company’s achievements.

Apple continued to draw investor scrutiny over sales in ultra-competitive China, its No. 2 market but a drag on revenue and margins in past quarters. The iPhone maker has been ceding ground to Samsung and other rivals there, but investors hope its tie-up with the country's dominant mobile carrier will help reverse its fortunes in the world's largest cellular arena.

In the closely watched greater China region, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, revenue jumped 29 percent from a year earlier to US$ 8.84 billion, bolstered by strong iPad sales and the iPhone's global launch in September, when China was included among launch countries for the first time.

Company executives did not talk about iPhone unit sales in the world's No. 2 economy, but intense competition not just from Samsung but also lower-cost, local rivals like Huawei and Xiaomi is impeding its progress.

In the less competitive tablet arena, Apple sold a record 26 million iPads globally in the quarter, in line with Wall Street estimates. Oppenheimer told Reuters the company more than doubled sales of the tablet in mainland China during the December quarter, helping drive that milestone.

Longer term, investors continue to hope that Apple, which last came out with a revolutionary new device - the iPad - in 2010, has something up its sleeve for 2014. Speculation currently revolves around a smartwatch or even a long-rumored TV product. Others say Apple can use its huge iPhone and iTunes base to get into mobile payments or advertising.

“What we need to see from them is some sort of new product development and it would be likely in the area of software, mobile payments and advertisements that would get us thinking that there is an opportunity for accretion," Gauna said.

"Hardware can only go in one direction and that's flat or down. It has to be something in the innovation space and they have a lot of things they can do."

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