This week in Apple: Mac Pro teardown, and Apple's secret satellite plans

This week in Apple news we saw iFixit teardown the Mac Pro. You can see the image above for all the components the techs pulled out. We don’t want to totally spoil it for you, but iFixit absolutely adored the repairability level of the Mac Pro, giving it one of its highest scores ever.

Elsewhere in all things Apple, we saw the company join forces with Google and Amazon for smart home simplicity, a yearly subscription introduced for Apple Arcade, the removal of a popular iPhone app related to the original iPod, and more.

See the Apple news roundup below for all the latest.

The top Apple news stories of the past week:

• Apple is working on a satellite for iPhone communications: According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple has been quietly working on satellite technology that would allow it to communicate directly with iPhones as well as help iPhones communicate with each other. As of now, it’s unclear if Apple would be creating its own satellites or using existing ones.
• Apple, Amazon, Google, join forces to fix smart homes: Apple, Amazon, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance announced earlier this week that they are all working together to develop and promote a platform-agnostic standard for smart home products. Hopefully, this will make smart homes better and easier to manage.
• Defective iPhone parts stolen and used to build iPhones: Apparently, Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) workers in China were stealing defective iPhone parts for an ingenious (and illegal) scheme. They would steal the defective parts, assemble them into defective iPhones, and then sell them to unwitting customers. The stolen parts allegedly are worth $43 million. That’s a lot of parts.
• App that turns iPhone into classic iPod pulled: In a show of authority that is probably misguided, Apple this week pulled an app from the App Store that turned your iPhone’s display into a clone of the original iPod, complete with click wheel. The app — which actually worked and played music — was allegedly pulled because it could have been mistaken for an official Apple product.
• iFixit sure does love the new Mac Pro: Venerable teardown site iFixit tore apart the new Mac Pro. Inside, it found it to be one of the most easily repairable devices it’s ever encountered, calling it a “masterclass in repairability.” See the full teardown here.
• Time’s ‘Best gadgets of the decade’ list features multiple Apple products: Long-running periodical Time recently published its list of the best gadgets of the decade. The list features more Apple devices than anything else, including the iPad, Apple Watch, and AirPods. The Google Chromecast and the Nintendo Switch also made the cut. See the full list here.
• Yearly subscription available for Apple Arcade: Apple’s new game subscription service known as Apple Arcade launched at $4.99 per month, or $59.88 totaled up over the whole year. However, you can now join as an annual subscriber for just $49.99 per year, which saves you nearly $10. Not bad!
• A new show from “It’s Always Sunny…” creators coming to Apple TV Plus: A new television series called “Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet” is coming to Apple TV Plus on February 7. The show is created by Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day, co-creators of the hit series “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.” McElhenney also stars in the show.

Thinking about making the switch?

If you are reading this Apple news article on an iOS device and thinking about making the switch to Android, we have multiple articles and guides that can help you with that process. Despite how it might seem, moving from iOS to Android is easier than ever, and many of the services and systems on iOS have similar or even the same counterparts on Android.

The best place to start would be our guide on how to switch from iPhone to Android, which goes over all the basics. We also have more specific guides, such as how to transfer your calendar from iPhone to Android. We also have app guides that will give you the best alternatives to iOS staples, such as our list of best alternatives to FaceTime on Android.

If you’re looking for a great Android device to replace your iPhone, consult our list of the best Android smartphones available now.