MacRumors

Apple today began selling the Leather Sleeve for the new iPhone 12 models, with the accessory having first been announced alongside the updated iPhones in October.

Priced at $129, the Leather Sleeve is not a case and is designed to be removed when the ‌iPhone‌ is in use. It features a cutout at the front that displays the time, and it comes with a matching leather strap. According to Apple, it is made from "specially tanned and finished European leather" that's soft to the touch and develops a patina over time.

The sleeve is designed to fit tightly around the ‌iPhone‌, protecting it from scratches and drops. The inside has a pocket for a credit card or ID, and charging is possible through the sleeve with Apple's MagSafe Charger. Apple warns that as with Leather Cases, the Leather Sleeve is subject to "slight imprints" when used with ‌MagSafe‌ accessories.

Apple sells the Leather Sleeve in Baltic Blue, Pink Citrus, Saddle Brown, and (PRODUCT)RED. It is available for all four of the ‌iPhone‌ 12 models, and orders placed today will deliver starting in mid-December.

Following the release of the M1 Macs Apple executives have been doing interviews with a range of publications, and today, Ars Technica published another interview with software engineering chief Craig Federighi, hardware technologies lead Johny Srouji, and marketing VP Greg Joswiak.

Much of the interview focuses on topics that the three have already covered in prior discussions, but there is an interesting tidbit from Federighi on Microsoft and Windows on the ‌M1‌ Macs. Right now, the ‌M1‌ Macs do not support Windows and there is no Boot Camp feature as there is on Intel Macs, but Windows support is a feature that many would like to see.

Federighi says Windows on ‌M1‌ Macs is "up to Microsoft." The core technologies exist and the Macs are capable of it, but Microsoft has to decide whether to license its Arm-based version of Windows to Mac users.

As for Windows running natively on the machine, "that's really up to Microsoft," he said. "We have the core technologies for them to do that, to run their ARM version of Windows, which in turn of course supports x86 user mode applications. But that's a decision Microsoft has to make, to bring to license that technology for users to run on these Macs. But the Macs are certainly very capable of it."

Federighi also suggested that Windows in the cloud could be a possible solution in the future, and he highlighted CrossOver, which is able to run x86 Windows apps on ‌M1‌ Macs using Rosetta 2.

Federighi, Joswiak, and Srouji also discussed developing the Apple Silicon chips, designing the ‌M1‌, the ‌M1‌'s performance, unified memory architecture, running iOS apps, and more. The full interview can be read over at Ars Technica.

Google earlier this week released a version of Chrome designed specifically for Apple's M1 Macs, and those with a new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, or Mac mini will want to download the Apple Silicon specific version of Chrome because it's going to run faster than the x86 version working through Rosetta 2.

Following the release of the ‌M1‌ version of Chrome, Ars Technica did a series of benchmarks using Speedometer 2.0, JetStream2, and Motion Mark 1.1, and in all cases, the ‌M1‌ Chrome was much faster than the x86 version.

In a Speedometer 2.0 test, ‌M1‌ Chrome scored 210, while standard Chrome scored 116, and in a Jetstream 2 test, ‌M1‌ Chrome scored 156.9 and standard Chrome scored 93.1. In the Motion Mark 1.1 test, ‌M1‌ Chrome scored 726.4, while standard Chrome scored 435.7.

Across all tests, the native ‌M1‌ version of Chrome performed between 66 and 81 percent better than the version of Chrome running through Rosetta 2. Safari was the fastest browser of all, of course, having been designed by Apple, and it came out on top across all of the tests.

According to Ars Technica, the Speedometer test best mimics real life usage and that's where the greatest advantage between the two browser versions was seen. Jetstream 2 best mimics web applications such as spreadsheets, and MotionMark 1.1 measures complex graphic animation techniques.

The ‌M1‌ version of Chrome can be downloaded on ‌M1‌ Macs on the Chrome website by selecting the "Mac with Apple Chip" option after clicking download.

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with RAVPower to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a set of power adapters that are perfect for Apple's newest iPhones that don't come with chargers and Apple's latest M1 Macs.

RAVPower makes a whole range of charger and power bank options, and this giveaway includes the 30W USB-C charger and the 65W 4-port USB-C charging station.

Priced at $28.99, RAVPower's 30W power adapter has a USB-C port and a USB-A port for charging multiple devices at once. It provides the 20W power needed for Apple's MagSafe Charger, so with this power adapter, Apple's charger will charge iPhone 12 models at the full 15W.

With a USB-C to Lightning cable, it can also fast charge any compatible ‌iPhone‌ to 50 percent within 30 minutes, while also leaving 10W available for the USB-A port. The 30W charger is also compatible with Apple's iPads and is able to charge them at full speeds, plus it works with Android devices, the Nintendo Switch, and more. The prongs fold down so the charger can be tucked away in a backpack or bag for travel.

While the 30W charger is ideal for the ‌iPhone‌ and the iPad, RAVPower's 65W charger works with all Apple devices, including the new ‌M1‌ 13-inch MacBook Pro and 13-inch MacBook Air.

Available for $42.49, the 65W charger features two USB-C ports and two USB-A ports, with the ability to charge a MacBook at 45W and an iPad Pro at 18W simultaneously. With no other devices connected, it can charge at the full 65W.

The 65W charger uses GaN technology to keep the size compact, and it measures in at three inches by 1.6 inches. It's compatible with all of Apple's devices, from Macs to iPhones, plus it works with all other USB-C devices. Both chargers have safety protections to keep devices safe from over-voltage, overheating, and short circuiting.

We have seven charger sets to give away to MacRumors readers. To enter to win our giveaway, use the Gleam.io widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winners and send the prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, following us on Instagram, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.

The contest will run from today (November 20) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on November 27. The winners will be chosen randomly on November 27 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.

For those who don't win, RAVPower is offering a discount on the 65W charger that drops the price down to $34.99. Just use the promo code macrumors136 when checking out to get the deal.

Apple retail locations and Apple's online store now offer Anker's eufyCam 2 Pro, a home security camera that supports Apple's HomeKit Secure Video feature.

Priced at $349.95, the eufyCam 2 Pro features a 2K resolution and a 140 degree field of view for sharp wide-angle video. The setup comes with a home base required for operation along with two cameras to use in the home.

With ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌, video footage is encrypted and stored in iCloud rather than on servers handled by Anker. Footage can be viewed in the Home app, and all motion and people detection is done on-device for privacy purposes.

Using ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌ requires an upgraded ‌iCloud‌ storage plan. Apple's 200GB plan supports one ‌HomeKit Secure Video‌ camera, while the 1TB plan supports up to five cameras.

eufyCam 2 Pro offers customizable notifications, two-way audio support, and night vision in infrared and color. There's a built-in battery that is designed to last for up to 12 months before it needs to be recharged.

In addition to being available from Apple, the eufyCam 2 Pro can also be purchased from Amazon at the same price point, plus Amazon has add-on cameras for $150 each.

While the new Mac mini with the M1 chip is only available with Gigabit Ethernet, Apple has listed multiple M1-based Mac mini logic boards with 10 Gigabit Ethernet in an internal parts list for Apple Authorized Service Providers.

For every Mac mini logic board with Gigabit Ethernet in the parts list, obtained by MacRumors, there is a corresponding logic board with 10 Gigabit Ethernet:

While the boards are available to order (in limited quantities), it is unclear why at this point. There are several possibilities, including that Apple listed the parts mistakenly or before it decided against offering a 10 Gigabit Ethernet option. The logic boards could also be designated for special circumstances, such as enterprise use. Apple could also choose to release an M1-based Mac mini with 10 Gigabit Ethernet at a later time.

Apple continues to sell Intel-based Mac mini models with optional 10 Gigabit Ethernet for now.

Following Apple's confirmation that it still plans to introduce a new App Tracking Transparency feature that will let users know when companies want to track them across apps and websites, which has attracted criticism from companies such as Facebook, Craig Federighi has explained more about the rationale behind the change to The Independent.

The App Tracking Transparency feature allows users to opt-out of data collection and choose whether advertisers can track their activity. While it was originally supposed to arrive with iOS 14 earlier this year, Apple postponed the feature until early 2021 to give developers more time to accommodate it.

Federighi told The Independent that the new feature can be put down to Apple's support for privacy as a "core value" that has been present "since the beginning of the company," citing how Steve Jobs highlighted the Apple II's ability to allow users to secure their own information on floppy disks and have control over their data.

He said that the feature would ultimately be "better for even the people that are currently, at times protesting those moves," because it increases trust between users, developers, and advertisers. Federighi also said that similar concerns had been raised in the past about new privacy features, but they did not result in long-term issues, and eventually became widespread across the industry:

We introduced intelligent tracking prevention, several years ago, and at the time, parts of the ad industry were saying that the sky was going to be falling in and that their business was going to be destroyed by the fact that they couldn't track everyone from website to website to website. Well, in fact, if you look at what happened to the industry, that didn't happen at all, and yet we also protected user privacy.

Federighi also noted that Apple is not the largest manufacturer in most markets and implied that customers can choose whether or not they want to buy an Apple device:

If we sell cars without airbags, and we decided to put airbags in our cars before someone else did, and customers want to buy those, I think it's great that we've provided that that choice. We're not waiting for someone to require we do it, we're making that part of what it means to use our platform.

Federighi confirmed that Apple's decision to postpone the feature was singularly due to the concerns of some developers who feared that opting out of ad tracking would impact how their apps work, rather than disputes with the ad industry.

Although Apple has not announced any further privacy protection features that could affect the ad industry, Federighi said "we're going to watch and see what happens and try to make sure that we can keep the ecosystem healthy," hinting that more changes could be made in the future.

Finally, Federighi pointed to some of Apple's privacy features that have benefited users in the past, while still preserving the needs of the ad industry. He specifically mentioned the SKAdNetwork tool, which allows developers to track when an ad had led to a sale of a product, which has become a key metric for many advertisers, saying "we created a framework for doing that in a privacy-protecting way."

Future updates, he said, could bring more ways for the ad industry to "improve their ability to do effective advertising while preserving privacy, and we want to work technically on solutions to make that more and more effective."

Read the full interview at The Independent.

OWC has announced that its upcoming Thunderbolt Hub will be compatible with all Apple M1 and Intel Macs equipped with Thunderbolt 3 ports and running macOS Big Sur, offering users the ability to expand the number of available Thunderbolt ports.

The OWC Thunderbolt Hub connects to a host computer over a Thunderbolt 3/4 port and provides three additional Thunderbolt ports (which are also compatible with USB-C) and one USB-A port. Each of the three downstream Thunderbolt ports can host its own daisy chain of peripherals and support transport speeds of up to 40Gb/s, subject to the overall limit of 40 Gb/s for the connection from the host computer.

The upstream Thunderbolt port can provide up to 60 watts of power to the host computer, which would be enough for a MacBook Air or a 13-inch MacBook Pro, but wouldn't be able to fully support a 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌. The downstream ports can provide up to 15 watts for bus-powered Thunderbolt peripherals.

The OWC Thunderbolt Hub is priced at $149.99 and is available for pre-order now ahead of an early December launch.

Apple and Microsoft are working on adding support for the Xbox Series X controller to Apple devices, according to an Apple Support page spotted by a Reddit user.

The support page states that Apple devices only support the Xbox Wireless Controller with Bluetooth, Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2, Xbox Adaptive Controller, PlayStation DualShock 4 Wireless Controller, and various other MFi Bluetooth controllers. However, small print on the page states:

Microsoft and Apple are working together to bring compatibility for the Xbox Series X controller to customers in a future update.

Support for gaming controllers on Apple devices allows for better control in supported games from Apple Arcade or the App Store, navigation on the Apple TV, and more.

There is no mention of the Sony PlayStation 5 DualSense Controller or the Amazon Luna Controller on the Apple Support page, but MacRumors has spotted code mentioning the controllers in the iOS and iPadOS 14.3 betas.

In a recent interview with CNET's Scott Stein, Apple's head of augmented reality and virtual reality initiatives Mike Rockwell said AR has "enormous potential" across both "devices that exist today" and "devices that may exist tomorrow."

"AR has enormous potential to be helpful to folks in their lives across devices that exist today, and devices that may exist tomorrow, but we've got to make sure that it is successful," Rockwell told Stein. "For us, the best way to do that is to enable our device ecosystem, so that it is a healthy and profitable place for people to invest their time and effort."

Apple is widely rumored to be developing both an AR/VR headset and glasses, but with neither product expected to be released until 2022 at the earliest, Apple continues to play up AR/VR technology in more vague terms. Apple and its CEO Tim Cook have repeatedly referred to AR as "big" and "profound" over the years.

"There's a lot more we can do, especially related to our understanding of the environment that is around us," Rockwell said. "We can recognize people, but if you think about what a human being can understand about an environment, there's no reason that in the fullness of time a device can't have that level of understanding, too, and provide that to developers."

"We'll be working together with the blind and partially sighted communities to improve specifically on the people-detection side," added Allessandra McGinnis, Apple's senior product manager for AR, referring to potential accessibility features.

The whole interview reads like yet another tease of the so-called "Apple Glasses":

"A few years from now, it'll be one of those things where you kind of can't remember living without it, just like the internet," said Rockwell, referring to AR. "You're going to feel like, wow, I'm using this on a regular basis … it will become just integrated into our lives."

In May, reputable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that "Apple Glasses" will launch in 2022 at the earliest and provide an "innovative" user experience.

A new configuration of the M1 MacBook Air with 128GB of storage and a lower $799 price has today been spotted on Apple's U.S. Education Institution Hardware and Software Price List.

The ‌M1‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ is only available with 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of storage. There is currently no 128GB configuration on the Apple Store.

However, Reddit user "u/dduci97" noticed that Apple has listed "13-inch ‌MacBook Air‌: Apple ‌M1‌ chip w/8-core CPU and 7-core GPU, 8GB, 128GB" in Silver, Gold, and Space Gray on its U.S. Education Price List at a price of $799. Apple also has options to purchase this ‌MacBook Air‌ configuration in bulk quantities, as is the case with many other devices on the Education Price List.

Although Apple's U.S. Education Store is not yet displaying a 128GB ‌MacBook Air‌, another Reddit user shared a screenshot of the education institutions page showing the new configuration.

It is unclear whether this lower-cost ‌MacBook Air‌ configuration will ever be sold to the general public. Factoring in education discount, it seems that a 128GB ‌MacBook Air‌ would come in at $899 for the average consumer, making it the cheapest MacBook option for years.

Alternately, it is possible that the configuration may be reserved for education customers only. Apple has been known to reserve some Mac models for education, such as the Intel Core i3 iMac, as well as older models such as the eMac and "molar" Power Mac G3.

The team behind the "Checkra1n" jailbreaking tool for iOS claims to have used it to successfully jailbreak Apple's HomePod, although it's unclear what that could mean for the smart speaker in terms of hacking potential.

The news was announced by Twitter user L1ngL1ng, who shared a screenshot of a macOS Terminal window that appears to show command line root access to the ‌HomePod‌ over a secure shell (SSH) connection.

The command line grab suggests the device in question is an original 2018 ‌HomePod‌ model (with the identifier AudioAccessory 1,1) rather than Apple's new HomePod mini (AudioAccessory 5,1). The original ‌HomePod‌ runs on an Apple-designed A8 chip, which is the same chip that was first introduced with the iPhone 6.

The development is a novel one indeed, but the practical utility of jailbreaking a ‌HomePod‌ is largely unknown, although that hasn't stopped commenters on the r/jailbreak subreddit from speculating on the possibilities.

So far ideas have included opening up the speaker's locked-down Bluetooth connectivity, changing Siri to a rival virtual assistant, displaying custom colors on the top screen, and enabling support for more third-party streaming services.

The checkm8 bootrom exploit that powers the checkra1n jailbreak has previously been demonstrated to be capable of hacking Apple's T2 Security chip present in new Macs, which could theoretically open the door to circumventing disk encryption, firmware passwords, and the whole T2 security verification chain.

Apple has launched a new Today at Apple program called "Make Your Holiday," aimed at getting users of all ages to create unique festive gifts using their Apple devices.

At the center of the program is a free downloadable 74-page project book that gives families and friends "easy-to-do projects and ideas for sharing gratitude, giving thoughtfully, and celebrating festively."

Add a bit of fun and creativity to the holidays this year. In this Project Book, you'll find easy-to-do projects and ideas for sharing gratitude, giving thoughtfully, and celebrating festively. And the best part — your family and friends can create together whether near or far.

The project book is a Pages document containing inline links, and includes creative ideas and step-by-step instructions to help users make posters, family portraits, gratitude journals, emoji quilts, greeting cards, gift cards, and more. Some of the projects rely on native Apple apps, but others involve more advanced software like Procreate and DoubleTake.

The ideas are backed by weekly virtual sessions that run from November 19 through December 31, and involve Apple Creatives offering inspiration and project tips. For more information, see the Today at Apple website and enter your location.

With the launch of iOS 14 in September, Apple introduced Home Screen widgets for the first time, ushering in an unprecedented wave of customization for the iPhone.

Several apps quickly emerged allowing users to personalize their ‌Home Screen‌ with custom widgets and icons, and new research by Sensor Tower reveals that almost 15% of iPhone users in the U.S. have installed at least one app to do just that.

The Sensor Tower report tracked the download numbers of five of the most popular ‌Home Screen‌ widget apps – Widgetsmith, Color Widgets, Photo Widget: Simple, WidgetBox, and Photo Widget – and found that they had been downloaded from the U.S. App Store 13 million times since iOS 14 was released on September 16.

Installs peaked during the week of September 21, reaching 3.8 million downloads, and this month they have hit 1.7 installs so far. Collectively, the five apps have reached an estimated 45 million installs across the globe to date.

When it comes to apps that offer replacement icons for other apps, the top five include Brass, App Icons, Icon Changer +, ScreenKit, and Icon Themer, which have collectively reached 1.8 million ‌iPhone‌ installs in the U.S. since September 16, according to the research.

As the report notes, ‌iPhone‌ users have maintained their interest in adding Android-style custom widgets to their Home Screens over the past two months, and with the recent news that custom app icons no longer route through the Shortcuts App in iOS 14.3 Beta 2, that interest is only likely to continue.

Following the release of macOS Big Sur last week, a number of 2013 and 2014 MacBook Pro owners found that the update bricked their machines. Affected users saw their Macs get stuck displaying a black screen after attempting to install the new software.

Apple has now addressed this issue in a new support document that provides instructions on what to do if macOS Big Sur can't be installed on a 2013 or 2014 MacBook Pro machine. Apple suggests Mac owners experiencing these issues unplug external devices, attempt restarting, reset the SMC, and reset NVRAM or PRAM. From the support document:

1. Press and hold the power button on your Mac for at least 10 seconds, then release. If your Mac is on, it turns off.
2. Unplug all external devices from your Mac, including any displays and USB accessories, and remove any card inserted in the SDXC card slot. Then turn your Mac on.
3. If the issue persists, reset the SMC as described for notebook computers with a nonremovable battery.
4. If the issue persists, reset NVRAM or PRAM.

Apple says if these solutions do not work, affected customers should contact Apple Support for further help with the problem. The document also says that Apple plans to update the article as more information becomes available.

To be safe, those with older ‌MacBook Pro‌ models from 2013 or 2014 should avoid installing the macOS Big Sur update at this time until a more definitive fix becomes available. Apple today released a new version of macOS Big Sur 11.0.1, but it is not clear if this addresses the problems that are being seen with older ‌MacBook Pro‌ models.

Apple's first M1 Macs have defied expectations and are more powerful than anyone expected, handily beating out many other Intel Macs that Apple is continuing to sell. We've seen endless speed tests, but we thought we'd pit the ‌M1‌ 13-inch MacBook Pro against the model that it's replacing, the 2020 13-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ with 1.4GHz quad-core Core i5 processor, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645, and 8GB RAM.

The prior-generation ‌MacBook Pro‌ was just released in May 2020, but it's already outdated and far inferior to Apple's new ‌M1‌ model, as our extensive speed testing will demonstrate.

Geekbench Scores

The ‌M1‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌, which is the base model with 8GB storage, an ‌M1‌ chip with 8-core CPU and GPU, and a 256GB SSD, earned a single-core Geekbench score of 1722 and a multi-core score of 7535.

Comparatively, our Intel ‌MacBook Pro‌ earned a single-core score of 871 and a multi-core score of 3786, so performance is close to double here. OpenCL scores also demonstrated a stark difference with the ‌M1‌ earning a score of 19305 and the Intel chip earning a score of 6962.

SSD Speeds

There's a faster SSD in the ‌M1‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌ and in our testing, we saw read speeds of 2800MB/s and write speeds of 2300MB/s. With the SSD in the Intel ‌MacBook Pro‌, we saw read speeds of 1600MB/s and write speeds of 1100MB/s. Apple says the SSD can reach sequential read speeds of up to 3.3GB/s thanks to the new SSD controller integrated in the ‌M1‌ chip.

File Transfers

When transferring a 40GB+ file, the ‌M1‌ completed the task in 27 seconds while it took the Intel Mac 90 seconds. Transfer speeds started out the same, but it didn't take long for the Intel Mac to fall behind.

4K Video Export

Exporting a 10 minute 4K video from Final Cut Pro took the ‌M1‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌ 4 minutes and 53 seconds and it took the Intel ‌MacBook Pro‌ 6 minutes and 47 seconds. In addition to the faster transfer speeds on the ‌M1‌ Mac, the fans never came on at all, while the Intel Mac's fans were roaring.

Starting Up and Shutting Down

The ‌M1‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌ starts up noticeably faster thanks to the new Instant Wake feature that gets it going right when you open the lid. Shutting down was also faster.

Tab Test

We opened up a dozen YouTube tabs in Safari on both Macs and the CPU load was much lower on the ‌M1‌ Mac. The ‌M1‌ Mac was able to play every video without issue and the fans never even kicked on, but the Intel Mac struggled and the fans were on max speed.

App Test

We opened every app in the Applications folder on both Macs, which was approximately 50 apps. The ‌M1‌ excelled, while the Intel Mac lagged behind and had trouble opening everything up. It took a lot longer to open all of the apps on the Intel version, especially Final Cut Pro.

Opening up Mission Control with every single app open was seamless on the ‌M1‌ Mac but the Intel Mac couldn't quite handle it and there was a lot of lag.

Tests with single apps were much closer. The ‌M1‌ won out when opening up apps like Safari, Maps, Apple Music, and Final Cut Pro, but the Intel Mac wasn't too far off.

Conclusion

During our benchmarking and speed tests, the ‌M1‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌'s fans never turned on once, so expect near silent operation for almost all tasks if you pick up one of the new ‌MacBook Pro‌ models. The MacBook Air has no fans at all, and the Mac mini performs similarly to the ‌MacBook Pro‌.

In addition to speed, we've also been impressed with battery life. The ‌MacBook Pro‌ was used for an hour or two when we first got it and then most of the next day, and we never once had to plug it in to charge it even through all of the testing.

The ‌M1‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌ beats out the 2020 Intel model, but it's also faster than the high-end 2019 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ models in terms of CPU performance. If you're planning to buy a new Mac, at this point, it's probably worth holding out for a Mac with an ‌M1‌ chip if you can. Apple is planning to update the entire lineup with Apple Silicon, a process that will take approximately two years.

Rumors suggest some of the next Macs to get ‌M1‌ chips will include the iMac (there's a 24-inch model in the works) and the 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌.