As part of today's Apple online store downtime, the company appears to have rolled out an enhancement of its sales chat support services for those looking to purchase an Apple product. While sales chat has been available for quite some time through individual product pages, the changes include a revamped chat window with a more modern appearance.
As has long been the case, sales chat support is available only during certain times of the day and dependent on availability of chat agents.
Even more interestingly, Apple appears to be using its Brazilian store as a test market for even further enhancements that allow sales specialists to share their screens with potential customers to help walk them through a product's features. MacMagazine.com.brprovides an overview the process [Google translation], showing how users can participate in a virtual tour with the chat appearing along the right side of the browser window while the specialist shares his or her screen to walk through the product's features.
The report indicates that the screen sharing virtual tour feature is limited to the iPad 2 for the time being, but that the company has plans to extend it across its product lines.
Apple has yet to reveal when the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra will be announced and released, but the dates usually follow a familiar pattern.
Labor Day is September 7 this year. The last time the holiday fell on that day was in 2020, but the iPhone event that year was delayed until October due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, the last time Labor Day was on September 7 in a normal year was in ...
Wednesday July 29, 2026 11:39 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple is developing an all-new operating system that is essentially a mix of tvOS, watchOS, and iOS, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In a report this week, he said the operating system will feature a grid of icons, widgets, and apps, along with customizable clock faces.
The new software platform is intended for Apple's long-rumored smart home hub. With built-in facial recognition,...
Thursday July 30, 2026 3:43 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
We're less than two months out from the launch of Apple's premium next-generation smartphone lineup, and while we're not expecting a dramatic change in terms of functionality, there are still several enhancements rumored to be coming to the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
One thing worth noting is that Apple is reportedly planning a major change to its iPhone release cycle this year,...
LOL. I live in Brasil. It's horrible to pay taxes like brazilian people pay. The government here in Brasil it's horrible. Is a government of corrupt politicians.
Thats the result of bad administration!!! Bad Government = Horrible Country
If you ever studied Tax Law, you would understand that, once a government approves additional taxation, it will almost never accept to relinquish it. Furthermore, Brazil is a federative republic - the President is not able to change the whole taxation system at will...exactly the same happens with the horrid tax system in the US - the only advantage is that taxes are still lower over there.
As for corruption, please stop this usual mongrel dog complex that affects many Brazilians - according to the latest Transparency International reports, Brazil's corruption levels are way better than China and Russia, better than most of the Americas, much better than most of Eastern Europe and Africa, and at similar levels as "rich" countries such as Italy. So try to put a little perspective into things instead of spouting the same blabla to non-Brazilians.
Good to see the Brazilian market leading the way once more - once the taxation of Apple devices gets to a more reasonable level there, the increasingly wealthier local consumers will be even more willing to buy from Apple than what they are already doing right now.
Next logical step: MAJOR Apple Stores in São Paulo, Rio and Curitiba - mark my words for this extremely important emerging Western power.
Well at the price they pay for Apple product, they at least deserve extra customer services.
Seriously how can people manage to live in Brasil with such taxes?
Just imagine what they could do WITHOUT excessive taxes, huh? In any case, the main burden talked about here is on imported electronics, which in any case can be fairly easily bought on instalments.
Moreover, Brazil has an extensive local industry for computers and the like, giving people the possibility to buy without incurring the same taxation as traditional Apple products.
Although this should change for the better once more and more iPads/iPhones are produced locally, the main issue depends on whether the average Brazilian consumer wakes up to the fact that what he pays is NOT ONLY due to taxes - companies love to put a huge mark-up due to those consumers' extremely high willingness to pay whatever price for a nice gadget. Ironically, they now face the same situation I see in Switzerland: people paying a LOT more just because they can and accept to - the traditional economic concept of welfare, if you will.
Besides, although there is still considerable poverty in the country, one cannot forget that Brazil has 190 million inhabitants, of which at least 30% can easily afford to buy the most expensive things...companies love that, especially for electronics and vehicles.
Apple's first foldable iPhone, with a book-style design featuring a ~5.5-inch outer display and a ~7.8-inch inner display with a minimal crease down the middle.
