Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Apple investors await new iPhone details. The company is expected to announce relatively subdued quarterly earnings—by Apple’s standards, at least—as customers and investors focus on the details of its next smartphone iteration. If the 10th anniversary iPhone launch date slips to October, it won’t be tallied in the current fiscal year.
A slump in new car sales. US automakers report car sales for July, but since they’ve been falling every month so far this year, analysts are expecting more of the same—around a 5% drop versus last year. Ford, GM, and others have been cutting production and offering bigger discounts to shift units.
A deadline in bitcoin’s civil war. Users are considering a controversial proposal to increase the number of transactions that the cryptocurrency can handle, with the final decision due at 7:20am ET. If enough miners opt in, it could create a new variant, known confusingly as “bitcoin cash.”
While you were sleeping
Rolls-Royce revved up a 150% rise in profit. The upbeat first-half result was due to a boost in production of its Trent engines for large jetliners—and aggressive cost-cutting. Rolls was hit with a £671 million ($886 million) penalty from regulators in January after it was found guilty of bribing middlemen to secure orders.
BP fell behind the rest of the class. Unlike rivals Shell and Exxon, which posted a surge in profit last week, Europe’s third-largest oil company saw second-quarter profit drop by 5%, as it was hit with a multi-million write-off for pulling out of a gas-exploration project in Angola.
Pakistan’s parliament picked a new prime minister. Former petroleum minister and ruling party member Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is poised to be named interim PM until the brother of Nawaz Sharif—ousted by the Supreme Court over corruption charges last week—becomes eligible to take over in about two months. Opposition leader Imran Khan criticized the move as dynastic politics.
Sony raked it in. The Japanese group reported an almost threefold leap in quarterly profit, to $1.4 billion, on the back of strong sales of smartphone image sensors. It’s spending some of that money too: On Monday, it bought Texas-based anime distributor Funimation—a move will help works like Cowboy Bebop, Dragon Ball Z, and Attack on Titan reach a wider audience.
South Korean exports rallied in July. Thanks in part to strong demand for semiconductors, exports were up nearly 20% from a year ago, marking the ninth-straight month of increased shipments, and the seventh month of double-digit growth in a row. Exports to India were particularly strong, surging 79% on-year.
Quartz obsession interlude
Lila MacLellan on the use of shame as a management tactic. “In most offices, employees want to hide or minimize gaffes, lest they impact a performance review, get them fired, or—and this is a big one—tarnish their reputation among peers… So we protect ourselves by not asking questions, and by not admitting to slip-ups.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Robots are coming for managers, too. Running a team is just another workflow to be automated.
Putin’s bet on Trump has backfired. Moscow painted the US president into a corner (paywall), making it impossible for him to lift sanctions.
China needs more tourists. Despite efforts to develop “soft power,” unfriendliness toward foreigners takes an economic toll.
Surprising discoveries
A UK airport declared a “Marmite amnesty.” London City is offering passengers a travel-sized version of the salty spread as a swap for jars that exceed the maximum size for liquids.
Billionaires are flocking to a trailer park in the Hamptons. A beachside mobile home is perfect for storing your surfboards.
Honolulu is banning pedestrians from texting at crosswalks. “Distracted walking” fines start at $35 for first-time offenders.
Too much sleep could give you nightmares. An exhaustive study found a link between bad dreams and more than nine hours of sleep a night.
Saturn’s largest moon could support life. The discovery of vinyl cyanide means alien cells could be viable, despite Titan’s frigid temperatures.
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