MacRumors

The annual CES event is taking place this week, with thousands of companies converging in Las Vegas to show off their newest tech-related products.

CES officially starts on Tuesday, January 7, but there was a CES Unveiled media preview event on Sunday along with a press conference for Samsung, both of which MacRumors attended. We've rounded up some of the most interesting things that we've seen so far for our latest YouTube video.

Nanoleaf last week announced new hexagon-shaped light panels, which were on display at CES Unveiled. The hexagon panels are designed to work with other panel shapes and have a new snap together design that offers a tighter, more secure fit. Attaching the hexagon Nanoleaf panels to the wall is also simpler and will result in less wall damage with new snap in connectors that attach to the wall.

Nanoleaf is also showing off the Learning Series, a new switch, bulb, button, and gateway that are designed to learn user habits and auto adjust lighting based on that information. The Learning Series gateway integrates with other smart products such as bulbs from Philips Hue, making everything smarter.

Targus showed off a new eco-friendly backpack that's made from recycled water bottles. It has a built-in Qi-based wireless charger in the side pocket so you can tuck your phone into the cradle and charge while on the go.

There's no shortage of cute little gadgets at CES, including the Bocco Emo robot from Yukai, which is designed to keep families connected to one another by letting them exchange messages using text or voice via a smartphone. The version shown off at CES can also respond to questions and commands and control smart home devices. Yukai also showed off the Qoobo, an emotional support pillow with a tail that will react to various levels of engagement for comfort.

Following the CES Unveiled event, Samsung on Sunday held a press conference where it unveiled some new television products, all of which are likely to support HomeKit, AirPlay 2, and the Apple TV app like existing high-end Samsung TVs released in 2019.

Samsung's Q950 TV is a nearly bezel-free 8K panel that's super thin, featuring a screen to body ratio of nearly 99 percent and a stand that's similar to an iMac stand.

There's a Serif TV that's designed to function as a piece of decorative furniture in a room, while the Sero TV is aimed at people who specifically want to consume vertical content. Samsung also had its Samsung Wall up at the event, featuring a huge TV with microLED panels that can be configured in sizes ranging from 75 inches to 292 inches, with Samsung adding 88, 93, 110, and 150-inch options this year.

Make sure to stay tuned to MacRumors this week for all of our ongoing CES coverage, because there's a lot more to come. We'll be sharing overview videos of the coolest things that we see each day, and we have tons of new product announcements in our CES 2020 hub.

Lenovo last year unveiled a new foldable ThinkPad prototype, marking the first foldable PC design that we'd seen. Lenovo has continued to work on that prototype, and is now ready to bring it to market.

At CES, Lenovo is showing off the new ThinkPad X1 Fold, a laptop PC with a 13.3-inch folding LED display with a 4x3 ratio.

According to Lenovo, the ThinkPad X1 Fold is made from a combination of lightweight alloys and carbon fiber, and it's protected by a leather folio cover. It weighs in at less than two pounds and is designed to "seamlessly morph through multiple orientations," transforming from a device with a small footprint to a device with a fully flat display.

The ThinkPad X1 Fold is equipped with Intel Core Processors with Intel Hybrid Technology, and it will run Windows 10 when it launches, though Windows 10X support will be added at a later date for an "enhanced foldable user experience."

Lenovo believes the X1 Fold will bridge the gap between the smartphone, the tablet, and the laptop, offering benefits for users who often switch between devices with multiple form factors.

When used in landscape mode with the integrated kickstand included in the folio case, users can take advantage of a Bluetooth Mini Fold Keyboard for typing purposes. When folded closed, the keyboard is stored, secured with magnets, and wirelessly charged.

In portrait mode, users can take notes or draw sketches using the Active Pen that works with the device. The X1 Fold can be folded out completely flat so it can be used like a tablet in portrait mode, or it can be folded in half and used like a book for reading.

In this laptop orientation, users can choose to leverage two independent displays at one time for multitasking purposes, and it can be connected to a full-size keyboard and mouse or second display using USB-C when at a desk.

While designing the X1 Fold, Lenovo went through six different hinge designs and over 20 variations, settling on a multi-link torque hinge that manages stresses during folding. Combined with a carbon fiber reinforced frame plate, the hinge optimizes the viewing experience when the tablet is folded flat.

Lenovo plans to launch the X1 Fold in mid-2020, and it will have a starting price of $2,499.

Anker in late December debuted a new Made for iPhone (MFi) certified LED flash accessory that's meant to connect to the ‌iPhone‌ 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max through the Lightning port, and now it's available for preorder ahead of a late January launch.

Anker's ‌iPhone‌ LED Flash is the first Made for ‌iPhone‌ flash accessory that's available for purchase. With Made for ‌iPhone‌ integration, the flash accessory is recognized by Apple's new iPhones and can be triggered using the default Camera app and third-party camera apps.

According to Anker, the ‌iPhone‌ LED Flash offers twice the range and four times the brightness of the built-in ‌iPhone‌ flash. It will last for approximately 10,000 shots before needing to be recharged, and it comes with a detachable diffuser.

‌iPhone‌ flash accessories are not new and there are other options available on the market, but Anker's is the only one that is Apple certified and able to be synced with the ‌iPhone‌'s camera using the Lightning port.

Anker is charging $50 for the ‌iPhone‌ LED Flash, and it can be ordered from Amazon starting today. Orders will ship out on January 25.

Apple today launched its annual Back to University promotion in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Brazil, offering students and teachers free Beats Studio3 Wireless Headphones or free Beats Solo3 Wireless Headphones with purchase.

With the purchase of an eligible Mac, which includes the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, or ‌iMac‌ Pro, students can get free Beats Studio3 Wireless Headphones.

With the purchase of an iPad Pro or iPad Air, Apple is providing free Beats Solo3 Wireless headphones. Students can also choose the BeatsX Earphones instead, or choose to pay an additional fee to upgrade to the Beats Studio3 Wireless Headphones. PDFs with full terms and conditions are available for each educational site: Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and South Korea.

Macs and ‌iPad Pro‌ models are available at a discounted educational price when purchasing through the Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and South Korea educational stores, with discounts up to A$320, NZ$360, R$ 1.780 or KRW 271,000 on qualifying devices. The education stores also offer AppleCare+ protection plans at a 20 percent discount.

To get the free or discounted Beats, students will need to add an eligible Mac or iPad to their carts, where the option to add the headphones will come up automatically.

Students can also get a free year of Apple TV+ with the purchase of an ‌iPad‌, Mac, iPhone, Apple TV or iPod touch, along with a discounted Apple Music subscription. More benefits for students are listed in our Student Guide.

Discounts are available for current and newly accepted university students, parents buying for students, and teachers and staff at all levels. Sign up and enrollment verification through UNiDays is required.

The educational discounts in Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Brazil will be available for a limited amount of time both online and in Apple retail stores in Australia, Brazil, and South Korea. The promotion ends on March 16, 2020 in all four countries.

Apple's back to university promotion is the same as the Back to School promotion that launches in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and European countries in the summer months, so these countries can expect a similar deal when Back to School rolls around.

The iPhone XR is not properly functioning on the O2 network in the UK, according to the BBC. Based on multiple reports on Twitter, XR users who have O2 as a mobile provider have been experiencing multiple signal outages per day.

Customers have been unable to make and receive calls and send and receive text messages, as well as maintain a reliable LTE connection for using apps.

An O2 spokesperson told the BBC that it is working closely with partners to resolve "an intermittent issue affecting some of our customers using ‌iPhone‌ XR." O2 did not clarify how many customers are affected, but said that turning the ‌iPhone‌ off and on again can temporarily fix the issue.

According to one customer with an affected device, he was told by an O2 customer service representative that Apple caused the issue with a recent iOS update, though that information has not been confirmed. He was given a free month's line rental as compensation.

A MacRumors reader who is experiencing issues with the ‌iPhone‌ XR was able to receive a free upgrade to the ‌iPhone‌ 11 plus a £20 refund due to the signal issues.

Apple told him there was indeed a problem and that under consumer law in the UK, the handset had to be replaced regardless of warranty. There have been no other reports of free ‌iPhone‌ upgrades, but other ‌iPhone‌ XR owners who are experiencing issues on O2 may want to contact Apple support to see what can be done.

Intel at CES shared details on its upcoming 10th-generation 45W "Comet Lake" chips, which could be slated for future 16-inch MacBook Pro models.

As highlighted by AnandTech, the new 10th-generation chips will be built on the 14++nm architecture and will reach higher than ever speeds. The Core i7 chips will hit 5GHz speeds, while the Core i9 models will exceed 5GHz.

Intel hasn't shared additional details on the chips yet, but AnandTech speculates that Intel will introduce Turbo Boost Max 3.0 and Velocity Boost technology to the chips.

There are already a few manufacturers such as Acer and Lenovo that have announced support for the new 45W chips, and Intel believes the hardware will be coming to the market soon, so these may be the chips Apple will use in a 2020 16-inch MacBook Pro refresh.

LG today expanded on last week's announcement of new 8K OLED TVs with new details on the full lineup of 13 new OLED models, including a new 48-inch size.

Most notably for Apple fans, LG says the new lineup of OLED TVs will include an Apple TV app, letting users access Apple TV+, ‌Apple TV‌ channels, and iTunes video content. In addition to the new 2020 models, LG says the app will also be coming to 2019 and 2018 models later this year, although exact details on which models will be getting the app have yet to be shared.

New for 2020, the Apple TV app allows customers to subscribe and watch Apple TV+ and Apple TV channels as well as access their iTunes video library and buy or rent more than 100,000 films and TV shows. Customers with 2018 and 2019 LG TV models will also be able to enjoy the Apple TV app this year.

While AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support have rolled out to a number of TV models from LG, Samsung, Sony, and Vizio, the ‌Apple TV‌ app has until now been exclusive to certain 2018 and 2019 Samsung models. The ‌Apple TV‌ app is also available on certain Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, providing owners of non-Samsung TVs with some alternatives beyond the ‌Apple TV‌ set-top box, but native integration with ‌Apple TV‌ on additional TV brands will be a welcome addition.

In an internal memo shared with Apple Authorized Service Providers, Apple has indicated that it plans to update its serial number format to a randomized alphanumeric string for future products starting in late 2020 (update: Apple now says 2021). Apple says all serial numbers that exist before the change is made will remain the same.

Apple already uses alphanumeric serial numbers, but it has long been possible to determine the date and location that a product was manufactured based on the current format. Readers would often use serial numbers to glean more information about their devices. The randomized format would likely not be decipherable, or at least hard to, and it could also help to reduce fraud.

The memo was published today and obtained by MacRumors from a reliable source. It is unclear if the change will apply worldwide.

Update: Apple has delayed this change until some point in 2021, according to an internal document viewed by MacRumors.

Last month, in a research note with TF International Securities, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said he expects four high-end iPhones with 5G support to launch in the second half of 2020, including both sub-6GHz and sub-6GHz-and-mmWave models.

Kuo said iPhone models with mmWave would be available in five markets, including the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, and the United Kingdom, adding that Apple may disable 5G functionality in countries that do not offer 5G service or have a shallow 5G penetration rate to reduce production costs.

Based on checks within Apple's supply chain, however, Susquehanna analyst Mehdi Hosseini disagrees with Kuo's timeframe. Instead, he expects 5G-enabled iPhones to launch in two phases, including sub-6GHz models in September 2020 and mmWave models in December 2020 or January 2021.

The allegedly delayed launch of mmWave models stems from Apple's decision to use its own antenna-in-package modules instead of relying on a third-party supplier, said Hosseini, according to StreetInsider.

mmWave is the fastest 5G, utilizing new spectrum to provide theoretical download speeds of over 1 Gbps. Sub-6GHz is slower than mmWave, but it is still faster than 4G LTE and has broader coverage that makes it more suitable for rural areas.

Hosseini also expects one of the 5G-enabled iPhones to have an LCD, whereas Kuo said all four models would ship with OLED displays. One 5.4-inch model, two 6.1-inch models, and one 6.7-inch model are expected.

Kuo has a more established track record than Hosseini, so Apple's exact roadmap remains to be seen.