MacRumors

The upcoming Apple Watch Series 6 set to be released this fall could include a Touch ID fingerprint sensor built into the crown of the device, according to Israeli site The Verifier, which cites "senior sources" who have worked with its staff for a "number of years" as the source of the rumor.

It's not clear how the alleged ‌Touch ID‌ fingerprint sensor would be implemented, as the Digital Crown is already used for capturing an ECG in the current Apple Watch models with an included electrode.

A ‌Touch ID‌ fingerprint sensor sounds like somewhat of an odd feature to add to the Apple Watch, but it could potentially alleviate the need for a PIN when putting on the Apple Watch in the morning. The Apple Watch already unlocks when the iPhone is unlocked, but unlocking it on a standalone basis requires a numerical code to be entered.

The Apple Watch itself also uses skin contact as a biometric authentication option for Apple Pay payments and other functions. In the Apple Watch Series 7, The Verifier claims that the ‌Touch ID‌ fingerprint sensor will be relocated to the display, but two drastic ‌Touch ID‌ tweaks in two years may be questionable as Apple tends to make fewer changes to Apple Watch hardware.

Apple's next-generation Apple Watch is also said to include an improved battery, broader support for LTE, and support for WiFi 6.

The Verifier also outlines some of the features coming to watchOS 7, many of which we've heard before. watchOS 7 will allegedly include a "fresh design," updates to built-in apps, and improvements to Siri, with little other information included.

Echoing other rumors, The Verifier says Apple is working on pulse ox monitoring for the Apple Watch and sleep tracking capabilities. Pulse oximetry support would allow the Apple Watch to measure the oxygen levels in the blood, making sure a person's oxygen saturation does not drop to a dangerous level, which can be indicative of a serious and immediate problem that needs to be addressed.

Sleep tracking is a feature that we've heard a lot about in recent months, with Apple expected to introduce sleep monitoring capabilities in the near future. Sleep tracking would measure metrics like time asleep and sleep quality.

According to The Verifier, watchOS 7 will be compatible with the Apple Watch Series 3 and later, with Apple planning to drop support for the Apple Watch Series 2 and earlier.

The Verifier last week claimed that tvOS 14 will feature a new Kids Mode with content geared towards children and a Screen Time feature to measure time spent watching TV.

In the past, The Verifier has shared some questionable information that has not panned out, so it's worth viewing these rumors with some skepticism until confirmed by another source.

Apple today announced that it has released a new COVID-19 website and iPhone app with a screening tool and other resources to help people stay informed and take the proper steps to protect their health during the spread of the novel coronavirus. Apple partnered with the CDC, the White House Coronavirus Task Force, and FEMA on this initiative.

The website and app allow users to answer a series of questions regarding risk factors, recent exposure, and symptoms and receive CDC recommendations on next steps, including guidance on social distancing and self-isolating, how to closely monitor symptoms, whether or not a test is recommended at this time, and when to contact a medical provider.

Apple says its screening tool does not replace instructions from healthcare providers or guidance from state and local health authorities.

The website and app also offer access to COVID-19 resources to help people stay informed and get support. Users will receive answers to frequently asked questions about the virus, including who is most at risk and how to recognize symptoms.

The screening tool can be used by anyone who is 18 years or older in the United States. Apple says any data that users provide on the COVID-19 website or app will not be shared with Apple, the CDC, or anyone without explicit permission.

Taiwanese makers of iPhone-bound printed circuit boards (PCBs) have denied reports that Apple has asked them to postpone volume production of Apple's 2020 iPhone by two months, according to a DigiTimes paywalled article.

Taiwan's PCB makers in the supply chain of 5G iPhones have denied reports claiming they have been asked to postpone volume production by two months in line with a likely launch delay for Apple's new-generation devices amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to industry sources.

The rebuff follows a report earlier this week from Japanese news site Nikkei that claimed Apple was preparing to delay the launch of its 2020 ‌iPhone‌ lineup "by a few months" over fears of how well iPhones would sell in the current situation.

Nikkei's report suggested supply chain sources also foresaw "practical hurdles" that could push back the launch date, which was scheduled for September, and that the engineering development of the 2020 ‌iPhone‌ lineup had been affected by travel restrictions to the United States, China, and elsewhere.

In a separate DigiTimes report filed today, ‌iPhone‌ supplier Pegatron's CEO SJ Liao also cited travel restrictions as a factor impacting the supply chain which manufacturers were working to overcome, although he stopped short of referring to Apple by name:

Commenting on whether the supply of its US-based client's 5G smartphones has been disrupted, Liao noted that the client at the moment is having trouble visiting the factories to make direct supervision of manufacturing and as a result, the supply chain will need to have the new smartphones built without the client's supervision.

However, Pegatron will keep communicating with the client to resolve any concerns it has. As for the market rumor that the client's 5G smartphone development has also been seriously delayed because of the pandemic, Liao noted that both the client and supply chain players at the moment are mainly looking to shorten the front-end processing work for the handsets.

A recent report from Bloomberg suggested that the ‌iPhone‌ 12 models are still on course for a fall launch despite disruptions to Apple's supply chain, and Foxconn this week said that it now has enough workers to meet "seasonal demand."

Rumors point to four new ‌‌iPhone‌‌ models for 2020, which will be available at various price points. All models are expected to have 5G capabilities and A14 chips, and higher-end models are expected to be equipped with new 3D camera systems like the LiDAR Scanner in new iPad Pro models.

Apple plans to launch several Mac notebooks and desktop computers with its own custom designed Arm-based processors in 2021, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today in a research note obtained by MacRumors.

Kuo believes that Arm-based processors will significantly enhance the competitive advantage of the Mac lineup, allow Apple to refresh its Mac models without relying on Intel's processor roadmap, reduce processor costs by 40 to 60 percent, and provide Macs with more hardware differentiation from Windows PCs.

Earlier this month, Kuo said Apple's first Mac notebooks with Arm-based processors will launch in the fourth quarter of 2020 or the first quarter of 2021.

Kuo expects ASMedia Technology to become the exclusive supplier of USB controllers for Arm-based Macs, adding that the Taiwanese integrated circuit designer will benefit from Macs gaining support for USB4 in 2022.

USB4 converges the Thunderbolt and USB protocols as part of Intel's goal to make Thunderbolt available on a royalty-free basis, which should result in wider and cheaper availability of Thunderbolt accessories like docks and eGPUs.

As USB4 is based on Thunderbolt 3, it offers data transfer speeds up to 40 Gbps, which is twice as fast as the bandwidth of the latest USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 specification. USB4's underlying Thunderbolt 3 protocol also means the specification supports up to two 4K displays or one 5K display over a single cable.

The simplest way to view USB4 is as Thunderbolt 3, but royalty free for manufacturers. Intel will continue to offer Thunderbolt 3 on a standalone basis with a few advantages over USB4, including more support with reference designs and technical issues for manufacturers.

The new USB4 specification was published in September 2019, giving Apple plenty of time to implement it in time for 2022 Macs.

Apple's new 2020 iPad Pro models are equipped with an A12Z Bionic processor that's remarkably similar to the A12X chip in the 2018 ‌iPad Pro‌ models, offering little in the way of performance improvements.

The A12Z does, however, feature an 8-core GPU while the A12X includes a 7-core GPU, which sets them apart, but new evidence shared by NotebookCheck suggests that the A12Z Bionic is simply a renamed A12X chip with a latent GPU core enabled.

According to NotebookCheck, teardown site TechInsights confirmed that the 2018 A12X chip physically has 8 GPU cores and not the 7 GPU cores that Apple includes in tech specs. One of the cores of the A12X is disabled.

The A12X and the A12Z appear to be the same physical chip on the surface, with the same number of physical CPU and GPU cores rather, suggesting the A12Z is not a new design. AnandTech has also speculated that the A12Z is a re-binned variant of the A12X.

There can be several speculative reasons as to why Apple chose to do this. It is not uncommon to see chip makers disabling physical cores and enabling them in higher SKUs. For instance, the NVIDIA Titan RTX has all 4,608 CUDA cores enabled while the RTX 2080 Ti offers only 4,352 cores despite both using the TU102 GPU.

The other likely explanation is that Apple's decision to disable one GPU core in the A12X could have been deliberate. Enabling the latent core in an interim refresh like the A12Z would save them from having to develop an A13X and instead, directly focus on the (5 nm?) A14X that is slated to debut with the 5G iPad Pro later this year.

In the future, TechInsights is planning to conduct a floorplan analysis to determine for certain whether there are any differences between the A12X and the A12Z in the new ‌iPad Pro‌ models.

NotebookCheck speculates that Apple is saving an updated chip design for future ‌iPad Pro‌ models, and there are indeed rumors of a second ‌iPad Pro‌ refresh this fall that could bring mini-LED displays and 5G connectivity.

MacRumors recently discovered that Apple is developing a new "CarKey" feature that will allow an iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock, lock, and start an NFC-compatible vehicle. Just like credit cards and boarding passes, users will be able to add a digital car key to the Wallet app, eliminating the need to use a physical car key or key fob.

CarKey will allow users to approach their vehicle, hold their iPhone or Apple Watch near an NFC reader in the vehicle, authenticate with Face ID, and have the vehicle unlock automatically. Similar to Apple Pay at transit turnstiles, Express Mode would be an option, eliminating the need to authenticate with Face ID or a passcode.

Earlier this week, screenshots of what appears to be the CarKey interface surfaced on Twitter, providing us with our first look at the upcoming feature.

As expected, a digital car key appears as a card in the Wallet app. Tapping on the card reveals info such as the car model, issuing automaker, a toggle switch for Express Mode, and an option to share a car key with other users. When sharing a car key, the primary user can provide others with three levels of access, including the ability to unlock the trunk only, unlock the vehicle, or unlock the vehicle and drive it.

MacRumors uncovered that users will be able to share CarKeys using the Messages app. Shared access to CarKeys can be permanent for trusted individuals, such as a family member or friend, or temporary for someone like a valet driver.

It appears that Apple will be partnering with automakers for this initiative, suggesting that CarKey could roll out in a similar manner as CarPlay. Based on the screenshots above and iOS code strings seen by MacRumors, it looks likely that luxury car brand BMW will be one of the first automakers to support the feature, as 9to5Mac noted earlier.

BMW teased the future of digital keys in a press release last year:

Today, it is already possible to lock and unlock the vehicle, start the engine and share the key with others using the BMW Digital Key as part of BMW Connected on the smartphone. But this is only the first step in a global technological transformation being shaped and led by the BMW Group.

Apple is a member of the Car Connectivity Consortium, which recently announced an NFC-based Digital Key 2.0 specification that it said would be made available by the end of 2019. The consortium said this specification establishes a secure connection between mobile devices and vehicles using NFC, even when a compatible device's battery is low.

Next, the consortium is developing a Digital Key 3.0 specification based on both Bluetooth LE and Ultra Wideband to enable passive, location-aware keyless access. This would allow you to leave your iPhone in your pocket or backpack when accessing or starting your vehicle. iPhone 11 models are equipped with an Apple-designed U1 chip with Ultra Wideband support, so Apple could choose to offer this functionality.

It is unclear when Apple plans to make CarKey available to the public. The feature is not activated in iOS 13.4, released earlier this week. CarKey could be introduced in a future update to iOS 13 or held until iOS 14, which should be previewed in June.

Apple today announced that it is extending several deadlines that will eventually require apps to be built on SDKs designed for the most recent iOS and watchOS updates and incorporate iOS 13 features.

Apple will not require developers to meet the below requirements until June 30, 2020.

- Apps for iPhone or iPad must be built with the iOS 13 SDK or later and use an Xcode storyboard to provide the app's launch screen.
- iPhone apps must support all iPhone screens and all iPad apps must support all iPad screens.
- Apps for Apple Watch must be built with the watchOS 6 SDK or later.
- Apps that authenticate or set up user accounts must support Sign in with Apple if required by guideline 4.8 of the App Store Review Guidelines.
- Apps in the Kids category must be in full compliance with guideline 1.3 and guideline 5.1.4. of the App Store Review Guidelines.
- Apps using HTML 5 must be in full compliance with guideline 4.7 sections 4, 5, and 6 of the App Store Review Guidelines.

Notably, apps will not be required to adopt Sign in with Apple or comply with new guidelines for apps designed for children until the end of June.

Apple says the deadlines are being extended to accommodate developers who may need additional time to update their apps on the App Store. Apple was previously requiring developers to meet these deadlines in April 2020.

Apple is offering new free trial options for Final Cut Pro X and Logic Pro X, its video and audio editing software designed for professional projects, giving customers 90 days to try them out prior to a purchase.

The new longer trial options will be beneficial to those who are working from home, including students who are no longer able to work in a classroom environment, and those who are looking to try learning a new skill. The 90-day free trial options are available to all customers around the world.

Prior to now, Final Cut Pro X had a 30-day free trial, while Logic Pro X had no free trial option at all, so this will be a welcome change for everyone who has wanted to try out Logic Pro X before making a purchase. The 90-day extension period will be available for a limited time, reverting back to 30 days in the future. The free trial options are available for both new customers and those who have already downloaded the prior 30-day free trial of Final Cut Pro X.

The 90-day free trial for Final Cut Pro X is available now, while the free trial for Logic Pro X will be available in a few days. The free trial options can be downloaded from Apple's dedicated websites for Final Cut Pro X and Logic Pro X.

Alongside new iPad Pros last week, Apple also refreshed the MacBook Air, adding more storage, faster 10th-generation processors, and an updated keyboard. We picked up one of the new machines to take a look at some of the upgrades added in the 2020 update.

Design wise, there are no real external changes to the ‌MacBook Air‌'s body, though to accommodate the new keyboard, it's just a bit thicker. It's 0.63 inches thick at its thickest point, up from 0.61 inches.

It still comes in Silver, Space Gray, and Gold, and it uses the same Retina display that was first introduced in the 2018 ‌MacBook Air‌ redesign. Most of what's new is internal, but there is an all-new Magic Keyboard with scissor switches, which is the same keyboard added to the 16-inch MacBook Pro released last October.

Scissor switches are more reliable than butterfly switches and aren't prone to the same failure due to dust and other small particulates. In fact, scissor switch keyboards were used in MacBooks prior to the 2015 and 2016 MacBook and ‌MacBook Pro‌ refreshes that brought us the butterfly keyboard, so Apple is returning to an old favorite.

The new keyboard feels nice with its 1mm travel, but the keys are a bit softer, quieter, and mushier, so for some, it's not going to be as satisfying of a typing experience as the butterfly keyboard, but most people will appreciate the change and the reliability improvements.

There are inverted T arrow keys to make it easier to find them by feel, plus the keys have the same backlighting as the 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ model. Next to the function keys, there's a Touch ID fingerprint sensor for unlocking the Mac with a finger.

The ‌MacBook Air‌ still features just two Thunderbolt 3 ports, but 6K displays are now supported, so it works with Apple's Pro Display XDR if you feel like getting a $5,000 display to go with your $999 machine.

The rest of the changes to the ‌MacBook Air‌ are internal. It uses Intel's 10th-generation chips, maxing out at a quad-core Core i7 option that Apple says doubles CPU performance compared to the previous-generation ‌MacBook Air‌ models.

That Core i7 chip is a high-end upgrade, though, and the base model that we have on hand features a 1.1GHz dual-core 10th-generation Core i3 processor, and performance gains are a lot more modest.

GPU performance with the Intel Iris Plus Graphics is up to 80 percent faster than GPU performance with the previous Intel UHD Graphics 617, which is a bigger jump for the base model.

Apple also boosted the storage, so the ‌MacBook Air‌ now supports up to 2TB storage space and the base model comes with 256GB of storage instead of 128GB of storage, which is a great deal given the new lower $999 starting price. Entry-level machines still come with 8GB RAM, though, and the 16GB upgrade is $200.

With the price drop, storage upgrade, GPU refresh, and new chips, the 2020 ‌MacBook Air‌ is a great entry-level machine ideal for people who need something for office work, web browsing, content consumption, light photo editing, and similar tasks that don't require the power of the ‌MacBook Pro‌.

For most consumers, the entry-level 2020 ‌MacBook Air‌ is more than adequate, and for a few hundred dollars, it can be futureproofed with some boosted CPU speed and additional RAM.

What do you think of the 2020 ‌MacBook Air‌ refresh? Let us know in the comments.

The Thunderbolt 3 standard has been available for roughly four years now, but cable lengths have so far generally been limited to a couple of meters due to signal degradation over long distances of copper wiring. While the use of copper Thunderbolt 3 cables limits their length, it does allow for additional features like the ability to carry power and fallback use of USB modes at slower speeds.

There is an alternative to copper cables that allows for longer cable lengths, and that's optical fiber cables, which use light to transmit signals over long distances with high fidelity. While there have been optical versions of Thunderbolt 1 and 2 cables, the Thunderbolt 3 standard has been very slow in seeing optical cables come to market.

The market for optical Thunderbolt cables is relatively small given their expense and the fact that the vast majority of users have no need to run cables longer than a couple of meters, but for those who do need long cables, the wait for Thunderbolt 3 cables has been a long one.

That wait finally appears to be coming to an end, however, as we're starting to see signs of the cables coming to market. Taiwanese company Areca has recently launched optical Thunderbolt 3 cables, available in 10-, 20- and 30-meter lengths. The cables are available through B&H, but with pricing coming in at $559, $699, and $799 respectively, these are obviously only for pro-level users who absolutely need the highest performance over long distances. And remember that these cables can only carry Thunderbolt 3 data and don't fall back to USB or provide power to or from connected devices.

B&H currently lists expected availability of 7-10 business days on all three cable lengths, and Areca told me a few weeks ago that supplies were somewhat constrained as its factories were still trying to ramp production back up. Areca tells me that beyond the cables that have shown up at B&H, the company is also planning a special-order 50-meter cable and has also been considering a shorter 5.5- or 6-meter cable, although the minimal price difference between that and the 10-meter version may not make it worthwhile.

One of the major optical cable manufacturers users have been looking to for Thunderbolt 3 cables is Corning, and it appears its cables may be close to coming to market as well. One MacRumors reader let us know that Corning's cables have started appearing on websites of some European resellers like MacConsult in lengths ranging from 5.5 meters to 50 meters. Based on these listings, Corning's pricing looks like it will be starting at around the equivalent of $400 in the U.S., a bit less than Areca but still out of the range of the average consumer.

Corning tells me that while samples of its optical Thunderbolt 3 cables have been shown at trade shows over the past couple of years, it's not quite ready to officially launch them and shared the following statement:

Corning’s Thunderbolt 3 cables have not yet been launched publicly, although we have shown preliminary samples at industry events. We look forward to their launch, although a date has not been scheduled.

It seems likely that Corning is still awaiting final certification from Intel and that a distributor may have gotten a bit ahead of itself in pushing out preliminary listings to some resellers, but hopefully we can expect Corning's cables to hit the market fairly soon.

The annual NAB show in April would have been a good opportunity for Corning to launch its cables if final certification from Intel was imminent, but as with nearly every other trade show, NAB 2020 has been canceled, so we'll have to wait and see what Corning's plans are.

Optical Thunderbolt 3 cables are hitting the market just as Intel has started teasing Thunderbolt 4, although it's unclear what the differences between the two versions will be, as they appear to offer the same maximum transfer speeds. USB4 is also coming to market in the relatively near future and will essentially unify Thunderbolt 3 and USB with Thunderbolt 3's theoretical maximum 40 Gb/s speeds.

Apple today is rolling out a new feature to Apple Music users, prominently displaying new albums, EPs, and videos from their favorite artists at the top of the Library tab in iOS.

The new feature first appears as a splash page in ‌Apple Music‌ on iOS, telling users that they can "see new music from artists you like." This will let you get updates about new releases from artists you listen to, with notifications appearing above your library of albums and playlists.

In settings for the feature, it appears that you can't specify exactly which artists you want notifications from. You can only choose to turn these notifications on or off, and whether you want to see these notifications in your Library tab or not.

The updated notifications feature is not available on a wide scale as of writing, but a select group of users do appear to have the update so far. To check, you can visit ‌Apple Music‌ on iPhone or iPad; the splash screen will appear for those people who can use the new feature.

‌Apple Music‌ has offered push notifications about new albums and music from artists you stream in the past, but these are fairly unreliable. Now that Apple is placing notifications directly within the ‌Apple Music‌ app, the company appears to be trying to offer more dependable information about new album launches.

(Thanks, Joshua!)

A vulnerability affecting iOS 13.3.1 and later prevents virtual private networks (VPNs) from encrypting all traffic, allowing some internet connections to bypass encryption, potentially exposing users' data and IP addresses.

Details on the vulnerability were shared today by Bleeping Computer after it was discovered by ProtonVPN. The vulnerability is caused because iOS isn't terminating all existing connections when a user connects to a VPN, allowing them to reconnect to destination servers once the VPN tunnel has been established.

Connections made after connecting to a VPN on an iOS are not affected by this bug, but all previously established connections are not secure. This could potentially lead to a user who believes they are protected accidentally exposing IP an address and therefore, an approximate location.

Apple's Push Notifications are cited as an example of a process using connections on Apple's servers that aren't closed automatically when connecting to a VPN, but it can affect any app or service running on a user's device.

VPNs cannot work around the issue because iOS does not allow VPN apps to kill existing network connections, so this is a fix that will need to be implemented by Apple. Apple is aware of the vulnerability and is looking into options to mitigate it.

Until fixed, VPN users can connect to a VPN server, turn on Airplane Mode and then turn off Airplane Mode to kill all existing connections. The mitigation isn't entirely reliable, however, so iPhone and iPad owners who rely on VPNs should be careful until Apple puts out a fix.

Apple today updated its Apple Developer app to add new features related to video watching and sharing. The Apple Developer app was formerly known as the WWDC app, and it is where content from this year's digital WWDC event will be accessible to developers.

Today's update introduces multiple playback speeds for watching videos, an option to interact with full video transcripts, and a feature for sharing stories from the Discover tab and viewing them on the web.

Thank you for your feedback. This release allows you to:
- Watch videos at multiple playback speeds.
- Interact with the full video transcripts.
- Share stories from the Discover tab and view them on the web.
You'll also see accessibility improvements, and other enhancements and bug fixes

Apple hasn't yet provided details on when its digital-only WWDC event will be held, but it will take place sometime in June with an online keynote event to unveil new versions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS.

The Apple Developer app can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]