You Won't Believe How Much an iPhone Really Costs Around the World

Since its introduction in 2007, Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) iPhone has transformed the mobile landscape, and it's helped make Apple a pretty hefty chunk of change, too. But Apple's insistence on maintaining a hefty profit margin for its devices, which are typically among the highest-priced phones and tablets on the market, has cost it sales around the world as a host of competitors using Google's Android operating system push in with cheaper alternatives.

Source: GAMEVIL, via Flickr.

Just how costly are iPhones, though? Most Americans don't have to think too hard about the price of a new iPhone 5s, which is heavily subsidized by the country's three major mobile carriers -- if you sign a two-year contract with AT&T (NYSE: T  ) , Sprint (NYSE: S  ) , or Verizon (NYSE: VZ  ) , you can get the phone for $199. However, an unlocked iPhone 5s with 16 gigabytes of RAM will run you $649. You might think that's pretty expensive, but out of all major iPhone markets, there's only one country (Canada) where an unlocked iPhone 5s costs less, in dollar terms, than it does in the United States.
Let's look at some of the most expensive markets to get an idea of just how much it really costs to buy the iPhone 5s today.

Source: User mlabowicz via Flickr.

3. Denmark: iPhone 5s costs $988.92 -- iPhones hold 46% of the market
Danes don't have it significantly worse than many of their European Union compatriots, most of whom also pay more than $900 for a new iPhone 5s, but it differs from the two costlier markets in two important ways. For one thing, the country has a much stronger economy on a per-capita basis, and it also has an excellent social safety net (supported by high taxes) that provides universal health care and free higher education. The Danish economy doesn't produce quite as much as America's on a per-capita basis (Denmark's GDP per capita is $42,173 when adjusted for purchasing power parity), but the Danish people don't seem to mind -- the country typically ranks as one of the happiest in the world.
Maybe that's because so many Danes have iPhones. With a 46% market share, Denmark is actually the most iPhone-friendly country on our entire list. Roughly 59% of the Danish population owned a smartphone in 2013, which is up from just 30% two years earlier. Danes don't seem to mind the high price of their iPhones, because their telecom industry is quite consumer-friendly by American standards -- service contracts are limited to six months, which discourages the subsidies Americans get with longer contracts, but which also pressures Danish telecoms to compete more intensely on service prices. Journalist Peter Nowak recently found that the average Danish mobile subscriber provides their carrier just $26.63 in revenue, compared with the whopping $64.11 in revenue per user American carrier Sprint reported just a few days ago. An excellent job market also helps more Danes afford costly smartphones, as only 4.3% of the population is currently unemployed.

Source: User Vegansoldier via Flickr.

2. Italy: iPhone 5s costs $996.32 -- iPhones hold 13% of the market
Italians show that Denmark is more an exception that proves the rule -- when people have less money, they typically buy cheaper phones. Italy generates only $33,174 in GDP per capita when adjusting for purchasing power parity, which makes it one of the weakest of the major European economies. Italy's economy has been weak for so long that its unemployment rate has been increasing since the ostensible end of the global financial crisis, and with 12.7% of the Italian workforce unemployed, there just aren't enough wage-earners in the country to go after a smartphone that costs about $1,000.
Italians are less apt to use smartphones than their Danish compatriots, as only 41% of the Italian populace owns a smartphone. Italians don't use their smartphones quite as intently as Danes, which also helps to explain the iPhone's lower penetration -- iPhone users are well known for their outsized impact on mobile browsing statistics compared to Android users. In fact, only 57% of Italy's smartphone users even had a data plan in 2013! Since the iPhone's major appeal is its use as a miniature connected computer, it's no wonder that smartphone-ambivalent Italians have thus far avoided its ridiculously high price.

Source: Crystian Cruz via Flickr.

1. Brazil: iPhone 5s costs $1,160.98 -- iPhones hold 4% of the market
Apple has largely ignored the Latin American market until recently, but if its first store in the region -- which opened just days ago in Rio de Janeiro -- is any indication, the company certainly couldn't care less about picking up market share. At 2,799 reals, which works out to almost $1,200, an unlocked iPhone in Brazil is by far the most expensive iPhone in the world. Since this price is offered to a country with less than a third of Italy's GDP per capita by purchasing power parity ($11,716), it should come as no surprise that very few Brazilians have iPhones.
Of course, Brazilians have fewer smartphones in general, as only 26% of the population currently owns one. It doesn't help that much of the country's interior has no wireless coverage, but even though the heavily populated regions near the coast have widespread coverage, Brazil has 4G service in only a few isolated spots in its very largest cities. The cost of a data plan is also prohibitively high for many Brazilians, as 5 gigabytes of data can cost almost $50 a month, which is a lot for the "emerging middle class" with an average monthly income of just $507. The deck is clearly stacked against Apple in Brazil, and Apple itself seems to be OK with that for the time being.
You can see the full list of the most expensive iPhone prices by country by scrolling further down.

Is the iPhone already old news? Take a look at what Apple's working on now
If you thought the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad were amazing, just wait until you see this. One hundred of Apple's top engineers are busy building one in a secret lab. And an ABI Research report predicts 485 million of them could be sold over the next decade. But you can invest in it right now, for just a fraction of the price of Apple stock. Click here to get the full story in this eye-opening new report.

Rank	Country	iPhone Price in U.S. Dollars	GDP per Capita  (Purchasing Power Parity)	iPhone Market Share
1	Brazil	$1,160.98	$11,716	4%
2	Italy	$996.32	$33,174	13%
3	Denmark	$988.92	$42,173	46%
4	Turkey	$978.33	$18,348	19%*
5	Sweden	$974.04	$43,021	48%
6	Hungary	$971.13	$21,959	17%*
7	France	$968.99	$36,104	20%
8	Poland	$968.38	$22,162	4%
9	Austria	$955.32	$43,661	41%
9	Belgium	$955.32	$39,751	34%
9	Finland	$955.32	$38,271	14%
9	Germany	$955.32	$41,245	17%
9	Ireland	$955.32	$43,683	30%
9	Netherlands	$955.32	$43,105	22%
9	Portugal	$955.32	$25,389	9%
9	Spain	$955.32	$32,043	7%
17	Norway	$949.40	$65,640	56%*
18	United Kingdom	$912.77	$37,456	30%
19	Luxembourg	$907.95	$88,286	55%*
20	New Zealand	$876.44	$32,219	48%*
21	China	$872.05	$9,083	19%
22	Switzerland	$870.68	$53,281	45%
23	Czech Republic	$863.91	$26,698	19%*
24	Russia	$849.09	$23,501	8%
25	South Korea	$825.31	$30,801	14%
26	Philippines	$824.38	$4,339	8%
27	Mexico	$794.87	$16,734	9%
28	Australia	$780.62	$44,598	35%
29	Singapore	$780.47	$60,800	41%*
30	Taiwan	$741.03	$9,083	18%*
31	Thailand	$733.85	$9,660	31%*
32	Malaysia	$722.05	$16,919	11%*
33	Hong Kong	$720.48	$51,103	31%*
34	United Arab Emirates	$707.60	$41,397	25%
35	Japan	$702.34	$35,178	39%
36	United States	$649.00	$51,749	44%
37	Canada	$604.44	$42,533	33%

Will Apple do the impossible with the iPhone 6?

 
Image Source: Martin Hajek, Nowhereelse.fr

I had one single thought the first time I held Apple’s iPhone 5s in my hand: I want a bigger display. As I have covered here on BGR several times, most extensively in my review of the phone, the iPhone 5s is both Apple’s best iPhone yet and its least significant iPhone update thus far compared to the previous-generation model. Performance improvements in most use cases are barely perceptible compared to the iPhone 5, and there really isn’t much useful new functionality to speak of.
The iPhone 5s is still a great smartphone, mind you — the best of the year in 2013, in fact — but it isn’t the huge “S” jump iPhone users have grown accustomed to over the years. And compared to other leading smartphones on the market, the iPhone’s 4-inch screen is painfully small.
Size matters.
Among the key specs expected from Apple’s upcoming iPhone 6 is a bigger display. In fact, more than half a dozen independent reports from leading newspapers suggest Apple plans to launch not one but two new iPhone models this year, an iPhone 6 with a 4.7- or 4.8-inch display and a separate phablet-sized model with an even larger display.
In all likelihood, I will have no interest in an iPhone phablet. I explained why in an earlier post. But the smaller iPhone 6 will almost certainly be my new personal phone when it launches this fall.
I have no doubt that the iPhone 6 will be Apple’s best iPhone to date. Every new iPhone is Apple’s best iPhone to date. It will be faster, slimmer and sleeker than any iPhone before it.
But it will also be bigger, and therein lies the concern for many users.
I carry two phones with me at all times and the iPhone 5s is always the smaller of the two. Actually, every single flagship smartphone that has launched over the past couple of years has made its way across my desk. Among them, the iPhone is the smallest.
On one hand, the iPhone can be a breath of fresh air in a market that has been flooded with oversized handsets that have grown so large, they won’t fit in some pants pockets. A big draw for the iPhone 5s is that it’s very comfortable for people with average-sized hands to use with one hand or two.
But the tiny 4-inch display on the iPhone is a painfully small canvas compared to other high-end phones out there. For me, it’s too small. Even when I first reviewed the iPhone 5 back in 2012, I wrote that the taller screen on the phone added practically nothing to the user experience.
Therein lies the problem.
The iPhone’s display is too small but the handset is very comfortable to use with one hand or two. Other flagship smartphones out there are far too large to be used comfortably by many people, but the bigger displays are terrific.
When will we finally be able to buy a smartphone with a good-sized display that isn’t too big for the average smartphone owner to hold and use comfortably?
So far, it seems like a pipe dream. If there’s any company that can achieve this seemingly impossible feat, however, it might be Apple.
As we’ve seen from both LG and Sony, new smartphones set to launch this year feature nearly edgeless designs where the display stretches almost all the way to the sides of the phone. This could drastically reduce the overall footprint of upcoming smartphones, but rumors suggest that these handsets will sport very large displays that measure around 6 inches diagonally.
Even with barely any bezel on the sides, a phone with a 6-inch display is going to be a big phone.
Around the middle of last year, I started hearing chatter that designs Apple was testing for its 2014 flagship iPhone model featured displays that reached almost all the way to the side edges of the phone. A short while later, market rumors to the same effect began to pop up periodically and they have persisted over the past few months.
If Apple is planning a 4.7- or 4.8-inch iPhone 6 with a design that almost completely eliminates the bezel on either side of the screen, it may indeed be the most pocketable and comfortable smartphone on the planet with a display in that size range. In fact, it probably won’t be that much wider than the iPhone 5s.
This is my hope. The iPhone is my main phone for work and personal use, just as it has been since 2007. But it’s not 2007 anymore. Bigger screens have numerous benefits and I want them all on my next iPhone.
If Apple can give us these benefits without a substantial increase to the overall size of the phone, it won’t just make me and millions of other current iPhone users happy, it will also catch the eye of former iPhone owners who made the jump to other smartphone platforms in search of a bigger screen.
In other words, we could definitely be in store for another record holiday quarter from Apple this year.

1 good reason NOT to buy Samsung Galaxy S5 when it launches next month

When Samsung unveils its highly anticipated flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone later this month, it will likely be one of the most impressive handsets the world has ever seen. Rumors suggest it will have an amazing Super AMOLED display that measures 5.25 inches diagonally and packs 2K resolution for crystal-clear viewing. It will also supposedly feature either a cutting-edge quad-core Snapdragon chipset or Samsung’s own eight-core Exynos processor, as well as a huge battery, an impressive 16- or 20-megapixel camera and the latest version of the Android operating system. As great as that all sounds, however, you probably shouldn’t buy Samsung’s new Galaxy S5 when it launches in the weeks to come.
Samsung plans to take the wraps off of the new Galaxy S5 during a press conference in Barcelona, just before the annual Mobile World Congress trade show gets underway. Millions of smartphone fans around the world are waiting with bated breath, and it will undoubtedly be a gorgeous device.
But those who can fight the urge to purchase one the instant it launches will be rewarded, according to the results of a recent study.

Consumer electronics price comparison specialist Idealo on Wednesday published the results of its research into the price trends of recent Galaxy S flagship phones in the months following each release. By analyzing the data it gathered, the firm was able to predict that the Galaxy S5′s price will decline substantially following its launch, which is expected to take place next month.
Samsung’s Galaxy S II, Galaxy S III and Galaxy S4 all followed remarkably similar trend lines in the long run in terms of unlocked price trends following launch. In the short term, however, the prices of Samsung’s flagship phones have been dropping faster with each new generation.
Within three months of being released, the prices of the S II and S III had each dropped by more than 10%, and the S4 fell by nearly 20%. According to Idealo’s projections, the average retail price of the Galaxy S5 will dip by 24% after just three months on the market.
That’s a discount of nearly one-quarter for those who can manage to wait just three months.
“The average price of the Samsung Galaxy S2 had reduced by 13% of its initial value after three months of being on sale,” Idealo explained in a post on its blog. “Its successor, the Galaxy S3, experienced a price decline of 14%. One generation down the line, we notice an even more significant price decline. The Galaxy S4, which was released in May 2013, was 18% cheaper by August 2013.”
The post continued, “Based on this data, we can predict that after just 3 months, the new Galaxy S5 could be available for just 76% of its original release price, which makes up a price reduction of almost a quarter, just three months on from market release.”
It’s always difficult for gadget enthusiasts to hold off on purchasing a new device the moment it launches, especially one that’s as highly anticipated as the Galaxy S5. Those who can exercise some self-control and wait a bit, however, stand to be handsomely rewarded.

New details on Apple’s bigger iPhone 6 models

 

After a rumor on Tuesday said that the next-gen iPhone models will not come equipped with sapphire displays, as previous reports claimed, a new story from China says that sapphire displays are still in the cards for the two new iPhone 6 handsets Apple will launch this September. The South China Morning Post has learned from industry insiders who have seen iPhone 6 prototypes that the iOS device will be available in two flavors, with 4.7-inch and a 5.5-inch displays.
Both devices will have high resolutions, and offer a 441 pixel per inch (ppi) density, which is significantly higher than the 326ppi offered by current Retina displays – assuming the reported screen size and ppi, the new iPhones would have to offer 2K resolution. The same sources revealed that Apple will rely on sapphire glass for the new iPhones – a recent report revealed that the company’s sapphire plant will be able to produce over 100 millions of sapphire displays for mobile devices this year. Foxconn has reportedly received orders for a trial run of iPhones with sapphire displays.
Furthermore, the iPhone 6 models would have flat screens, not curved ones, as some rumors may have claimed. “The screens will be flat. Apple doesn’t do anything until Samsung does it, and then they improve upon it,” a source said.
Once the bigger iPhone 6 arrive, the iPhone 5c will be discontinued. The iPhone 5s will become the cheaper iPhone model in Apple’s lineup, although future models will be built from cheaper components, the Post says. The publication says the iPhone 6 design “freeze” is set for April, which means design changes for the handsets are still in the cards until that date.

Leaked iPhone 6 photos

Apple device leaker Sonny Dickson has been quiet lately since, well, there haven’t been any upcoming Apple products to leak. That’s changing fast as Apple finalizes its designs for what half a dozen solid independent reports claim will be not one but two brand new iPhone models that will launch this year. The first is said to be an iPhone 6 with a larger display measuring about 4.7 inches diagonally, and the second will reportedly be an iPhone phablet with a 5.5-inch screen. We’ve all read the rumors, but the actual devices have remained hidden… until now?

UPDATE: MacRumors has gotten its hands on more photos that are much better quality, and they reportedly show a fully assembled prototype. They can be found below above the original photos from Dickson.

Dickson on Wednesday posted a series of images from his Twitter account. He didn’t share any information alongside the low-quality photos, labeling them only as “teasers,” but it is believed that the images show the outer casing for one of Apple’s new iPhone models set to debut later this year.

Four images of what may be Apple’s upcoming iPhone 6 shell follow below. And since they’re teasers, we can likely expect plenty more from Dickson soon enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Privacy advocates worry over new Apple iPhone tracking feature

Barely noticed by most consumers, Apple’s (AAPL) latest software upgrade for iPhones, iOS 7, included a capability for malls, museums or stadiums to identify visitors and track their movements indoors with a startling degree of accuracy.

Known as iBeacons, the feature allows a store to pop up, say, a coupon offer for Coca Cola on a customer’s phone just as they pass by the soda aisle. It also allows the store to track and record a customer’s movements for later analysis.

The rapid growth of smartphone use has opened a huge new opportunity for marketers to collect detailed location data on consumers, so far mostly outdoors. But the sensitivity of the information has already sparked numerous controversies, including in 2011 when iPhone users discovered their phones were keeping a list of their movements in an unencrypted text file.

And Nordstrom (JWN) created a stir when it was caught last year secretly tracking shoppers’ mobile phones via Wifi in 17 stores. The department store chain quickly ended the practice, which did not include identifying the phones' owners, after the controversy erupted.

With iBeacons, unlike some more-surreptitious retail location tracking systems that have come to light, however, iPhone users have to give their consent to be tracked by installing an app. So far, just Apple’s own Apple Store app on the iPhone, and coupon and rewards apps from a company called inMarket have disclosed they will use iBeacons for tracking customers.

The scope of risks

But some privacy advocates are concerned the simple explanations offered by the apps when they seek a consumer’s consent don’t come close to revealing just how much data could be collected or how it will be used.

“The scope and the risks and the sharing that takes place now is so far beyond the disclosures  consumers typically see,” warns Fordham University law professor Joel Reidenberg. "They’re not in a position to really know.”

Regulators have mostly taken a piecemeal approach so far. One industry-led effort hopes to create a "Do Not Track" list modeled on the successful "Do Not Call" list for telemarketing. 

Apple did not respond to a request for comment. Customers can turn access to iBeacons on and off for any app via a location services settings screen on the iPhone, Apple says on a Web page called iOS: Understanding iBeacon.

“If you allow third-party apps or websites to use your current location, you agree to their terms, privacy policies, and practices,” Apple states on the page. “You should review the terms, privacy policies, and practices of the apps and websites to understand how they use your location and other information.”

Of course, few consumers read the fine print in privacy policies and, as Facebook (FB) has aptly demonstrated, privacy policies can be changed frequently. Further, the data is often sold to third parties whose privacy policies are not made available to an app’s users. And storing extensive amounts of data creates the risk that hackers will steal the information, as happened during the Target (TGT) breach.

"Consumers can't make good decisions"
“Without knowing where the data is flowing and what is going to happen with it, consumers can't make good decisions,” says Jennifer Urban, co-director of the Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley Law School.
Buried in inMarket’s privacy policy, for example, the company says third-party marketers, advertisers, analytics firms and others may track consumers via their software. And if consumers sign up for mailing lists or click social media links, personally identifiable information could be shared.
The company says protecting consumer privacy is important. "Our system considers privacy by design, and requires users to opt-in by downloading apps and opt-in to location services," inMarket said in a statement. "This is a fundamentally different design than the systems that require opt-out."
It also says it doesn't currently use analytics firms for location tracking and only "occasionally" uses third party ad networks. The company offered links to privacy policies of several ad networks it uses, but an ordinary user of an inMarket app wouldn't know which ad networks to check based on the general language of inMarket's own privacy policy.
Unlike Apple’s shopping app, which only registers iBeacons in physical Apple stores, inMarket’s more general apps such as “CheckPoints” and “Free Grocery List Ease” work across many retailers’ stores. The recent announcement of iBeacons service in 200 supermarkets relies on customers using inMarket apps.
The iBeacons feature relies on the Bluetooth wireless adapter in each phone and tiny, quarter-sized sensors that can be placed inside buildings. An app on a phone picks up the sensor signals and contacts a retailer or advertiser which can register the location information and offer a coupon or other piece of information. By prompting customers to create individual rewards accounts or link apps to their Facebook accounts, retailers can tie data from a specific phone app to a specific person.
Because every phone’s Bluetooth adapter has a unique serial-number-like identifier, called a MAC Address, retailers and other trackers can also tie movement data to a specific device.
To be sure, iBeacons could also be used to provide new kinds of useful services that don’t threaten consumer privacy, such as triggering phone-based guided audio tours around a museum or tracking children’s toys so they don’t get lost.
Some privacy advocates would like the government to step in and regulate the collection and uses of location-tracking data. Others see industry self-regulation as a better path.
A code of conduct
Under an agreement prompted in part by New York Senator Charles Schumer, a handful of the biggest location tracking analytics firms agreed in October to a code of conduct to protect consumer privacy. The code requires stores to post signs warning customers if surreptitious tracking is going on.
Another part of the effort will be creating the “Do Not Track” list. But retailers and other businesses will have to agree to abide by the wishes of consumers who enter themselves on this list.
“It’s critical for retailers to step up and lean in,” says Jules Polonetsky, who helped craft the code. Polonetsky knows the issues well. He was the chief privacy officer for AOL and DoubleClick and now heads the advocacy group The Future of Privacy Forum in Washington, D.C.

Self-regulation may be just the first step needed, says Anita Ramasastry, a law professor at University of Washington, who thinks the industry-led effort should be given a chance.

“I’m in wait-and-see mode,” she says. “Although I’m in Seattle and I’ve yet to see a sign posted in any stores.”

iOS 7.1 beta 5 now available for download

Roughly two weeks after its last release, Apple’s has made iOS 7.1 beta 5 available for download. The new release comes exactly two weeks following the January 20th release of iOS 7.1 beta 4, which included a number of bug fixes and other refinements put in place as Apple prepares to release iOS 7.1 to the public. According to a recent BGR report, iOS 7.1 isn’t slated for public release until sometime next month, so we might still have a bit of waiting to do unless Apple’s schedule changes.

In the meantime, iOS developers with an iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPad Air, iPad mini with Retina display, iPad mini, iPad (third and fourth generations), iPad 2, and iPad touch (fifth generation) can download the new update over the air (OTA) or using Apple’s iOS developer portal.

The latest public release of iOS 7 remains iOS 7.0.5 in Japan for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, and iOS 7.0.4 everywhere else.

UPDATE: A developer has provided us with the full release notes / change log, which follows below.

Notes and Known Issues

The following issues relate to using iOS SDK 7.1 beta 5 to develop code.

Bluetooth

Known Issue

32-bit apps running on a 64-bit device cannot attach to BTServer.

CFNetwork

Notes

A compatibility behavior has been added to address an issue where some web servers would send the wrong Content-Length value for “Content-Encoding: gzip” content. Previously, NSURLConnection and NSURLSession would send a “network connection was lost” / NSURLErrorNetworkConnectionLost (-1005) error in this situation.

The compatibility behavior applies only if the Content-Length value exactly matches the expanded gzip’d content. It won’t apply for “off by 1” or similar miscounting.

Safari

Notes

A property, minimal-ui, has been added for the viewport meta tag key that allows minimizing the top and bottom bars on the iPhone as the page loads. While on a page using minimal-ui, tapping the top bar brings the bars back. Tapping back in the content dismisses them again.

For example, use  .

Siri

Notes

This seed adds new natural-sounding Siri voices for English (Australia), English (United Kingdom), Japanese, and Chinese (Mandarin – China).
The iOS device initially uses a compact voice for Siri. After you have configured a Wi-Fi network and have the device connected to a power source, iOS will automatically download and install a higher quality version.

Sync

Known Issue

In some situations, the “Connect to iTunes over USB to re-enable Wi-Fi Sync” prompt is not shown after an update as expected. Connecting to iTunes to re-enable Wi-Fi Sync is still required (and still functions as expected), it is just that the UI is not shown.

After upgrading to beta 5, iTunes Wi-Fi Sync users should connect their devices to their hosts to re-pair to enable wireless syncing.

UIKit

Known Issues

• Bar button background images are ignored in apps built and deployed to iOS 7.1 when they are set using UIBarButtonItem setBackgroundImage:forState:style:barMetrics: with UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered as the style argument.Workaround: Use UIBarButtonItemStylePlain or UIBarButtonItemStyleAny in this case, or use UIBarButtonItem setBackgroundImage:forState:barMetrics:.
• If a UITextField or a UILabel that is baseline aligned with constraints has attributes that change after the constraints have been added, the layout may be incorrect. The exception to this is -setFont: on UILabel, which should work as expected.Workaround: Avoid making changes in UITextField or UILabel after adding baseline-alignment constraints. If you must make changes, you should remove the constraints and then reapply them afterward. Note that this is a performance hit, so don’t do it unless it is necessary.
• The backIndicatorTransitionMaskImage from a storyboard or a xib will not be interpreted correctly at runtime.Workaround: Set the backIndicatorTransitionMaskImage in code.

This article was originally published on BGR.com