Lilbits: Apple is worth $2 trillion, hard drive failure rates, and the US vs. Huawei

It probably doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Apple is basically a money-making machine these days thanks to a combination of sales of popular hardware and control of an ecosystem that allows the company to take a cut of sales of apps, games, music, videos, eBooks, and other content.

But Apple became a company worth $2 trillion (for at least part of the day),  less than two years after hitting a $1 trillion valuation… and kind of hovering around there until the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, at which point Apple’s stock price skyrocketed.

Is it because investors are super psyched about Apple’s decision to transition from using Intel processors to building its own “Apple Silicon” chips based on ARM technology? That probably plays a role… but a glance at stock market trends suggests a bigger reason may just be that Apple stock seems relatively safe at a time when the overall economy is pretty volatile.

You know… unless game developer Epic’s lawsuit that challenges a key component of Apple’s business model proves successful. But that’s a battle that could drag on for years.

Here’s a roundup

• Apple Is Worth $2 Trillion, Punctuating Big Tech’s Grip [NYT]
  Apple is now a $2 trillion company, having doubled its value since the start of the pandemic – primarily because investors don’t know where else to put their money, so they’re buying “safe” stocks for big tech companies likely to survive the recession.
• Chip and phone supply chain shaken as Huawei faces mortal threat [Ars Technica]
  Huawei had been planning to buy processors for future smartphones from MediaTek to get around US restrictions. But now the US is blocking MediaTek and other companies from selling to Huawei, which could spell doom for the company’s smartphones business.
• A more detailed, colorful map [Google]
  Google Maps update will provide more detail about things like accurate street shape and width, sidewalk and crosswalk locations, and pedestrian island locations, making it easier to plan your walk — especially if you have a wheelchair or stroller.
• Backblaze Hard Drive Stats Q2 2020 [Backblaze]
  Cloud storage/backup solution Backblaze uses a lot of hard drives… so the company is in a good position to tell you which brands/models have the highest failure rates. Their Q2, 2020 stats are out and might be worth checking before buying a new HDD.
• Nvidia Shield TV seems like it might be exempt from Android TV’s new homescreen ads [9to5Google]
  Home screen ads have begun rolling out to most Android TV devices (the “highlights” row at the top of the screen). But there’s anecdotal evidence that the NVIDIA Shield line of devices may be exempt… so far, at least.
• MediaTek unveils the Dimensity 800U [xda-developers]
  MediaTek Dimensity 800U is another mid-range chip for 5G smartphones, this time with 2 x ARM Cortex-A76 CPU cores, 6 x ARM Cortex-A55 cores, Mali-G57 graphics, and support for LPDDR4X-2133 RAM and UFS 2.1 storage.
• Motorola Moto G9 Plus and Moto E7 Plus leaked
  Moto G9 Plus and Moto E7 Plus pictures and details leaked ahead of launch. Expect Snapdragon 460/4GB/64GB and dual cameras on the E7 Plus, and beefier specs (including quad cameras) on the Moto G9 Plus

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