Apple

The thing about the iPhone SE is that there’s basically nothing that’s new about it. It’s a four-year-old phone design filled with six-month-old parts, and it’s the rare product that amounts to exactly the sum of its parts. You could almost write a review of it without laying hands on it.

So we’ll spend a little time with the tech inside, but this review is going to focus primarily on the Big Questions: Who should buy this? Why should they buy it? Who shouldn’t buy it? And where does it fit into Apple’s Grand Plan for the iPhone?

If you’re Apple, how do you decide what constitutes a “Pro” device? Is it in the specs? Usually Pro products are faster and offer more storage and RAM than their non-Pro counterparts. Is it something special about the hardware and software? Often, yes, Pro products have specialized features that non-Pro products either get later or don’t get at all. Is it about the kinds of tasks they can perform? Sort of. Most Pro and non-Pro products run the same software, but the Pro can perform actions faster and better thanks to the aforementioned hardware improvements.

The FBI's announcement that it mysteriously hacked into an iPhone is a public setback for Apple Inc., as consumers suddenly discover they can't keep their most personal information safe. Meanwhile, Apple remains in the dark about how to restore the security of its flagship product.

Apple can't yet boast of significantly longer battery life in devices, but the company is looking to change that.

The company is researching new types of batteries that could potentially help PCs, mobile devices and wearable devices run much longer without a recharge.

Job listings posted over the last two months point to Apple researching new battery technologies and looking to improve on current lithium-ion architectures. Apple is looking for materials scientists; the jobs involve evaluating and testing new materials beyond the current lithium-ion technology.

The U.S. government has managed to access the iPhone used by San Bernardino gunman Syed Rizwan Farook, bypassing a passcode that had the FBI stymied for several weeks.

"The government has now successfully accessed the data stored on Farook’s iPhone and therefore no longer requires the assistance from Apple," the Department of Justice said in a court filing on Monday.

While many Silicon Valley tech companies famously employ ‘bug bounty’ programs whereby individuals or third-party groups can receive substantial monetary rewards for finding critical software bugs, Apple is curiously the odd man out. Whether it’s Google handing out $12,000 to a former employee who managed to purchase the Google.com domain name or Facebook paying $15,000 to a security researcher who happened upon a way to unlock any user’s account, paying cold hard cash to learn about previously undetected security vulnerabilities is not only commonplace, but also makes a lot of sense.

Apple may revamp its lineup of iPhones next year to include a new casing, new curved display and wireless charging, according to a reliable analyst.

An iPhone with a glass casing and curved AMOLED screen will debut in 2017, according to a note issued Saturday by Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo at KGI Securities. The note, as described by 9to5mac, appears to contradict an earlier report by the analyst that the Cupertino, California-based tech titan wouldn't release an iPhone with new screen technology until 2018.

As part of its big product event today, Apple is dropping a handful of significant updates to its four platforms. The final versions of iOS 9.3, OS X 10.11.4, tvOS 9.2, and WatchOS 2.2 will all be available to download today for all supported devices. Apple began beta testing the updates back in January.

When Steve Jobs took the wraps off iPad in 2010, he called the 9.7-inch, iOS-powered tablet "magical and revolutionary," a testament to Apple's industry-leading design and engineering prowess. It was Cupertino's first foray into slate-style computing and at $499 came at a price point nestled in that Goldilocks zone between iPhone and Mac.

Apple's engineers have joined the struggle between the company and the federal government over whether or not a court order can force Apple to de-encrypt an iPhone. If Apple loses, multiple engineers would resist building a backdoor to iPhone encryption and some would quit their jobs, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

Reporters from the Times interviewed more than a half-dozen current and former Apple employees, including security engineers and executives involved in the development of the company's mobile products.