Apple’s big iOS 17 iPhone update will launch this fall. I’ve been testing the beta version for the past few weeks, and while there’s no shortage of new features, my favorite is called StandBy. It turns your iPhone into a bedside clock that you can glance at, although it’s far better than just your traditional alarm clock.
It requires a phone with MagSafe, which means you’ll need an iPhone 12 or newer.
StandBy Mode in iOS 17
Todd Haselton | CNBC
StandBy mode can do all sorts of things. You can, for example, prop yourself up out of bed and swipe to see upcoming calendar events, swipe to check the day’s weather or view notifications at a glance. Or, if you’re more of a traditionalist, you can just let it sit on your bedside table showing off various clock faces.
Apple Standby.
Source: Apple
It works well on your desk, too. Users can set up StandBy mode to display a rotating array of photos from the image library, much like smart home hub devices from Amazon or Google. And whether your phone is stationed on your bedside table or on your desk, you can always say, “Siri, how long will it take me to get to work?” Or, “Siri, turn off the bedroom lights and play music by Miles Davis.”
StandBy Mode in iOS 17
Todd Haselton | CNBC
You don’t have to worry about a bright screen keeping you up, either. Your iPhone will automatically dim the screen, or turn the display off, when you switch off the lights. And Apple borrowed a feature from the Apple Watch Ultra: There’s a special night mode that changes the clock, calendar and text to the color red to make it less straining on the eyes.
StandBy Mode in iOS 17
Todd Haselton | CNBC
You can also turn on notifications that show detailed information from your apps. In my example above, UPS notifies me that my gardening gloves may arrive around midday.
StandBy mode works best with the iPhone 14 Pro, which has an always-on display. If you have a different model, the screen turns off but can be quickly turned on again with just a tap.
A pro tip if you’re interested in using this feature when it debuts for everyone this fall: Buy a MagSafe charger stand so that your iPhone is propped up next to your bedside while it charges. I use something similar to this $40 Anker stand, which charges your AirPods at the same time.
How to set up StandBy mode in iOS 17
How to set up StandBy Mode in iOS 17
Todd Haselton | CNBC
You can wait until iOS 17 is available to everyone or, if you’re willing to deal with some system bugs now, you can try it in the iOS 17 public beta. Once you have that installed, just:
Open Settings on your iPhone.
Tap StandBy.
Toggle it on.
Choose “Always On” under Display if you don’t want your screen to turn off. This works on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.
Select Night Mode if you want the text to show a red tint.
Choose whether or not you want to see notifications.
Then, when you go to bed, just plop your iPhone on the charging stand in landscape mode, or sideways, and it’ll automatically remember to turn on StandBy mode and show the last screen you used, whether it was the clock, photo gallery or calendar.
A woman cleans the store window of the Amazon house after activists sprayed paint on its logo during a protest on the opening day of the 55th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 20, 2025.
Yves Herman | Reuters
Amazon reported a 19% increase in online ad revenue in the first quarter, beating analysts’ estimates.
Ad sales climbed to $13.92 billion, while analysts on average were expecting $13.74 billion, according to StreetAccount.
The numbers were contained in Amazon’s first-quarter earnings report. The company reported total first-quarter sales of $155.67 billion, compared to Wall Street projections of $155.04 billion.
Although Amazon’s online ad business represents a fraction of overall sales, it has emerged in recent years to become the third-biggest platform in the global digital advertising market, behind only Alphabet and Meta.
Online advertising is a particular area of focus for investors due to economic uncertainty and increasing tensions between the U.S. and China over trade. While President Donald Trump’s China tariffs will likely affect Amazon’s core retail business, the company’s online ad unit could also feel some pain.
So far, tech companies with online ad businesses have reported solid first-quarter earnings, but warned of potentially tougher times later in the year.
Meta reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter earnings this week, but said ad sales in the Asia-Pacific region came in at $8.22 billion for the quarter, trailing analysts’ estimates of $8.42 billion.
The company’s finance chief Susan Li said during an earnings call that “Asia-based e-commerce exporters” have slowed their online ad spending likely due to the de minimis trade loophole ending this Friday.
When Alphabet reported first-quarter earnings last Thursday, it revealed that ad sales grew 8.5% year over year to $66.89 billion and YouTube ad revenue increased 10% to $8.93 billion. But Alphabet executives told analysts that it expects headwinds to its Asia-Pacific-focused advertising business.
Snap on Tuesday said it had “experienced headwinds to start the current quarter,” which resulted in the company saying it would not provide guidance.
Last week, Microsoft reported its latest quarterly earnings and said search and news advertising sales, minus payments to its affiliates, grew 15% year over year to $449 million.
Reddit also reported first-quarter earnings on Thursday that beat on sales and guidance. The company’s first-quarter sales soared 61% year over year to $392 million.
Although Reddit’s second-quarter guidance topped analysts’ projections, CEO Steve Huffman said there is some economic shakiness.
“Ever-shifting macro environments like these create both challenges and opportunities,” Huffman wrote in a letter to shareholders. “We’ve grown through challenging times before — people need connection and information just as much in uncertain times.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook, after nearly a month of anticipation from investors, on Thursday finally revealed how Apple was navigating the Trump administration’s tariffs.
The company only saw a “limited impact” on tariffs between January and the end of March, Cook told investors on an earnings call for the company’s second quarter results.
For the current quarter which ends in June, Apple is predicting about $900 million in additional costs for those tariffs — assuming nothing changes, Cook said. That surprised analysts who said on the call that they expected the costs to be higher.
The vast majority of Apple’s products are “currently not subject” to Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, Cook said. But beyond June, he didn’t say much.
“I don’t want to predict the future because I’m not sure what will happen with tariffs,” said Cook, adding that “it’s very difficult to predict beyond beyond June.”
Apple doesn’t usually give a lot of details or guidance beyond the current quarter, but investors didn’t like Thursday’s lack of clarity. Apple shares fell as much as 4% in extended trading on Thursday despite the company reporting results that beat Wall Street expectations for revenue and showed strong sales growth for iPads and Mac computers.
“As we look ahead, we remain confident,” Cook said.
Apple’s uncertainty highlights how even a company with a reputation for world-class operations can get whacked by the unpredictability of the Trump administration’s shifting tariff rates and dates.
Cook, who built his reputation in Silicon Valley as Apple’s operations guru, discussed how the company has dealt with the tariffs to minimize their impact so far on Thursday. He praised his old division on a call with analysts.
“‘l’ll just say that the operational team has done an incredible job around optimizing the the supply chain and the inventory,” he said.
Apple is currently sourcing American-bound products from India and Vietnam, Cook said. Those countries currently have 10% tariffs on them, and the company is sourcing Apple computers for rest of the world from China, which the Trump administration has hit with a 145% tariff rate.
Cook also said that Apple had built up inventory ahead of the tariffs, which would be reported as manufacturing purchase obligations in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cook said there was no “obvious evidence” that consumers were buying more Apple products ahead of tariffs.
“We do expect the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. will have India as their country of origin,” Cook said. “Vietnam will be the country of origin for almost all iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and AirPods products sold in the U.S.”
Apple will still pay higher 145% tariffs on some Chinese imports for AppleCare, its extended warranty program, and accessories, Cook said.
One issue for forecasting tariffs going forward is that both Vietnam and India are in line to get hit with hefty tariffs on imported goods as soon as July.
Trump previously targeted both countries under his “reciprocal tariffs” on April 2, but a week later, he paused the tariffs for 90 days. Apple expanded its supply chain to those countries in recent years as a hedge for its business, but the Vietnam and India strategy won’t work if Trump’s tariffs ultimately take effect.
Cook also mentioned the possibility that technology products such as semiconductors might receive additional tariffs under a process called a Section 232 Investigation.
Apple is not the only big tech company to get rattled by the Trump administration’s tariffs.
Amazon finance chief Brian Olsavsky said Thursday that Amazon would offer a wider range of guidance because of tariff uncertainty, and he also alluded to the possibility of weakening consumer demand. Microsoft raised Xbox prices on Thursday, despite tariffs coming up just once on the company’s Wednesday earnings call.
Apple didn’t offer guidance for its profitable Services division on Thursday, but offered the same kind of top-line forecast that it has in previous quarters. Apple expects overall revenue to grow “low to mid-single digits” on an annual basis during the current quarter. Apple reported $85.78 billion in sales during the June quarter last year.
And at least during that quarter, Apple investors will know what to expect.
Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang delivers his keystone speech ahead of Computex 2024 in Taipei on June 2, 2024.
Sam Yeh | AFP | Getty Images
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has made tens of billions of dollars in recent years from his stake in the chipmaker, but he’s getting his first salary increase in a decade.
Huang’s base salary rose to $1.5 million, a 49% increase from 2024, according to a proxy filing with the SEC on Thursday. His variable cash also went up by $1 million, or 50%, from the 2024 fiscal year. Stock awards grew to $38.8 million, bringing total pay to $49.9 million.
The compensation committee “believed this was appropriate in consideration of internal pay equity with the base salaries” of other top executives, the filing said, and “it represented Mr. Huang’s first base salary increase in 10 years.”
Nvidia is in the midst of a boom that’s turned it into one of the most valuable companies in the world, thanks to its graphics processing units (GPUs) that power the most powerful artificial intelligence models and workloads. Revenue in the 2025 fiscal year jumped 114% to $130.5 billion, the company reported in February.
The company’s stock price increased more than ninefold between the end of 2022 and the end of last year. Huang’s roughly 3.5% stake is currently worth about $94 billion.
Huang’s 2025 pay also included $3.5 million in residential security and consultation fees and driver services, the company said in the filing. In the previous year, residential security and consultation fees for Huang totaled $2.2 million.
Google in a recent filing said it paid $8.27 million for CEO Sundar Pichai’s personal security and travel, representing a 22% increase from the year prior.