MacRumors

LG today announced that AirPlay 2 and HomeKit are now available through a firmware update on select 2019 OLED and NanoCell 4K UHD smart TVs with ThinQ AI capability in the United States. The remaining 4K UHD TV series in LG's 2019 lineup are expected to receive these features in October.

LG began rolling out AirPlay 2 and HomeKit on July 25, but the firmware update was not available in the United States until July 29.

AirPlay 2 support enables users to stream videos, music, podcasts, and more directly from an iPhone, iPad, or Mac to a compatible LG smart TV, with no Apple TV necessary. And with HomeKit, users can easily control the TV's power, volume, source, and more using Siri or the Home app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

AirPlay 2 and HomeKit are also available in beta on select Vizio smart TVs, and both features will be rolling out to select Sony models later this summer. Samsung also offers AirPlay 2, but not HomeKit, on select TVs.

Many customers have petitioned LG to offer AirPlay 2 and HomeKit on its older smart TVs, but the company has not budged so far, noting that it "cannot guarantee" that pre-2019 models "will be able to deliver a seamless user experience." LG did note that it "may be a possibility in the future."

Apple today announced it has opened registration for three new art-based augmented reality experiences at its stores around the world.

First up, select Apple stores in San Francisco, New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong, and Tokyo will be hosting interactive "[AR]T Walks" featuring augmented reality works by some of the "world's premier contemporary artists."

Second, every Apple Store will be offering a 90-minute in-store "[AR]T Lab" session that teaches the basics of creating augmented reality using Swift Playgrounds. Attendees will go hands-on with "whimsical objects and immersive sounds" created by New York artist and educator Sarah Rothberg.

Third, an augmented reality art installation will be viewable in every Apple Store worldwide. Using the new "[AR]T Viewer" feature in the Apple Store app, users can initiate artist Nick Cave's interactive "Amass" piece, allowing them to experience a "universe of positive energy."

The new sessions and experiences will be available beginning Saturday, August 10, free of charge. Visit the Today at Apple website to register.

Apple is expanding its long-running "Shot on iPhone" marketing campaign with a new series of "On Tour" videos and billboard ads featuring 16 musicians and bands from around the world, according to Adweek.

As part of the campaign, Apple has shared three new videos that provide an up-close and behind-the-scenes look at concerts hosted by rock band Florence and the Machine, singer FKA twigs, and jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington. The mini documentaries were shot by ‌iPhone‌ users, some with the help of "additional hardware and software."

In addition to YouTube, the videos will be available on Apple Music and IGTV.

Musicians and bands featured in the campaign include FKA twigs, Chai, Kacey Musgraves, Kamasi Washington, Florence and the Machine, Idles, Lizzo, Travis Scott, Tierra Whack, Leon Bridges, Skrillex, Sebastian Yatra, Jay de la Cueva, Gaye Su Akyol, Little Big, and Tyler, the Creator, according to Adweek.

Over the years, Apple has used its "Shot on ‌iPhone‌" campaign to feature photos shot by everyday ‌iPhone‌ users, portraits of NHL players, the Cuban surfing community, the Chinese New Year, and much more.

Apple today released the fifth beta of iOS 13 to developers, bringing new bug fixes and adding and refining various iOS 13 and iPadOS features.

In the fifth beta, changes and updates are getting more minor than changes made in earlier betas, but beta 5 still has some notable additions and feature removals worth highlighting.

- iPad Home Screen - in iPadOS, there's a new feature in the Settings menu that lets you customize the Home screen. You can set the app grid to be 4x5 or 6x5, which results in bigger or smaller icons. The "More" setting shows up to 30 smaller app icons, while the "Bigger" setting shows up to 20 larger app icons.

- Share Sheet - The Share Sheet in iPadOS and iOS 13 has been updated adding sections for your Favorite shortcuts, the current app that's open, and "Other Actions." Each section is grouped together, making it easier to navigate the various options in the Share Sheet.

- Share Sheet Shortcuts - As noted by MacStories' Federico Vittici, Shortcuts are now able to be added to the Favorites list in the Share Sheet.

- Home App Backgrounds - There are new backgrounds that you can use within the Home app on iOS devices.

- Shortcuts App - The Automations section has been removed from the Shortcuts app temporarily. It will be re-added in a later beta.

- Light/Dark Mode - After installing this beta, Apple will ask you if you want to enable Light Mode or Dark Mode. This is presumably something new users will see when installing iOS 13 for the first time once it launches. There's also a smoother, more streamlined animation when swapping between Light and Dark mode in the Settings app.

- Move Goals - There are new Move Goals awards in the Activity app for hitting your Move Goals 1250, 1500, 1750, and 2000 times.

- Open Tab Action - The "Open Tab" popup option when 3D Touching on a link in Safari has returned.

- LTE Icon - The LTE/4G/5GE icon on the iPhone is now larger and sized to match the other icons at the top right of the ‌iPhone‌'s display.

- Volume - You can adjust the volume on the ‌iPhone‌ and the iPad more finely following the beta 5 update. There are 34 levels of volume now, allowing for smaller adjustments to the sound. The volume slider also offers haptic feedback when maximizing or minimizing the volume, and it's skinnier.

Know of a feature that's new in iOS 13 beta 5 that we left out? Make sure to let us know in the comments and we'll update this article. For more on what's new in iOS 13, make sure to check out our iOS 13 roundup.

Two of the iPhones set to be released in 2020 will feature 3D sensing rear camera setups with time-of-flight (ToF) camera lenses, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who shared the info in a note to investors that was obtained by MacRumors.

A time-of-flight camera system measures the time that it takes for a laser or LED to bounce off of objects in a room, providing an accurate 3D map of the surroundings.

All three of the new iPhones are also expected to feature a front-facing camera system with Face ID, which deviates a bit from some rumors that have suggested an under-display fingerprint sensor could be coming to some 2020 iPhone models.

We predict that three new 2H20 iPhone models will all be equipped with front Face ID, and two of the new models will provide rear ToF. We estimate that shipments of iPhone models equipped with front and rear VCSEL (front structure light and rear ToF) will be 45mn units in 2020.

We've previously heard multiple rumors suggesting a time-of-flight camera system for the 2020 iPhones, including info from Kuo himself, but this is the first time that he's specified that he expects the 3D sensing camera system to be available in just two of the three upcoming 2020 iPhones.

Kuo goes on to say that a rear time-of-flight camera would bolster photo quality and offer new and improved AR applications. Apple and Huawei are believed to be the "most aggressive brand vendors" supporting 5G and ToF in 2020.

The current 3D sensing capabilities used in the front-facing TrueDepth camera system rely on infrared cameras and a dot projector to create a 3D image, but ToF systems use lasers technology, calculating the time it takes for a laser to bounce off of surrounding objects to create a 3D image of what's around you. ToF offers up more accurate depth perception, resulting in better placement of virtual objects, and it should offer up improved images thanks to the more advanced depth information.

Previous rumors from Bloomberg have suggested that the rear camera in Apple's 2020 iPhones, which will use use VCSEL (vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser) technology, will be able to scan objects up to 15 feet away, mapping out wide areas. ‌Face ID‌ currently works at about 25 to 50 centimeters away.

Kuo said in a prior investor's note that implementing ToF would require 5G connectivity because Apple would want to use the feature to create a "revolutionary AR experience." All 2020 iPhones are expected to feature 5G chips.

Rumors suggest Apple is planning to release three iPhones in 2020, but in new sizes. Apple is said to be working on 5.4 and 6.7-inch high-end iPhones with OLED displays, which would presumably be the devices to adopt the 3D-capable rear camera systems, and a lower-cost 6.1-inch model with an OLED display.

More information on what to expect in the 2020 iPhones can be found in the dedicated what's next section of our 2019 iPhone roundup.

Apple today seeded the fifth betas of iOS 13 and iPadOS to developers for testing purposes, almost two weeks after releasing the fourth betas and more than a month after unveiling the new operating system at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

Registered developers will need to download the profile for the iOS 13 and iPadOS betas from Apple's Developer Center. Beta 4, like earlier betas, can be downloaded over-the-air once the proper profile has been installed.

Apple split iOS 13 and iPadOS into separate updates in 2019, one designed for iPhone and one designed for iPad. iPadOS is identical to iOS 13 in almost every way, though there are some iPad-specific features such as new multitasking capabilities. For the most part, the two operating systems share the same features.

iOS 13 is a huge update with a long list of new features. Perhaps the most noticeable outward-facing change is a systemwide Dark Mode that changes the entire look of the operating system from light to dark, darkening everything from system elements to apps.

Apple overhauled the Photos app, introducing a new ‌Photos‌ tab that curates your entire ‌Photos‌ library and shows you a selection of highlights organized by day, month, or year, and there are revamped Photo editing tools.

For the first time, you can edit video right in the ‌Photos‌ app, cropping, rotating, applying filters, and adjusting lighting and color. There's a new High-Key Mono lighting effect, and for Portrait Lighting in general, intensity can be adjusted.

There's a less obtrusive volume HUD, a new Find My app that combines ‌Find My‌ ‌iPhone‌ and ‌Find My‌ Friends and lets you track your devices even with they don't have an LTE or WiFi connection.

A Sign In with Apple feature (not yet active) gives you a convenient and data safe way to sign into apps and websites, providing an alternative to Facebook and Google sign in options. Apple's even able to generate single-use randomized email addresses so you don't have to give your real info to apps and websites.

Maps features a new street-level "Look Around" mode and a Collections feature for making lists of places, Reminders has been entirely overhauled to make it more functional, there's a profile option in Messages along with new Memoji and Animoji stickers, and Siri has a new voice.

CarPlay in iOS 13 has been overhauled with a new look, multiple sets of AirPods (or Powerbeats Pro) can be connected to the same phone so you can share music with a friend, ‌Siri‌ on HomePod can detect multiple voices for multi-user support, and ‌HomePod‌ also supports Handoff.

There are a ton of additional new features and changes coming in iOS 13, and for a full rundown of what you can expect, you should check out our iOS 13 roundup. Each new beta brings new features and changes to iOS 13, and the fourth beta added a rearrange apps Quick Action, added new 3D Touch settings, tweaked the Share Sheet, and more.

The beta testing period will allow Apple to work out bugs ahead of the release of iOS 13 and iPadOS, and it will let developers build iOS 13 and iPadOS features into their apps ahead of a public release coming this fall.

Ahead of the launch of its new flagship smartphone, the Pixel 4, Google has been sharing details on the device to get ahead of leaks.

The design of the Pixel 4 was unveiled in June, and today, Google offered up a look at some of the features that will be included in the new smartphone, including Face Unlock and Motion Sense.

Face Unlock is designed to unlock the Pixel 4 much like Face ID unlocks modern iPhones, and the Pixel 4 is even using a 3D sensing camera similar to the iPhone X and later.

There are two Face Unlock IR cameras, an ambient light/proximity sensor, a Soli radar chip that powers Face Unlock and other features, a dot projector, and a Face Unlock flood illuminator.

The Face Unlock feature on the Google Pixel 4 will support secure payments and app authentication, which is unique as most Android devices do not have a secure enough facial recognition system to allow it to be used for payments.

Google says that it is designing its facial recognition system differently than Apple's, making it a more fluid experience that works in any orientation.

According to Google, when you reach for the Pixel 4, the face unlock sensors are activated, recognizing that you want to unlock your phone. If the face unlock sensor recognizes you, the phone will open as you pick it up, all in one motion.

Google suggests this is superior to other methods such as the ‌Face ID‌ unlocking sequence on iPhones. "Other phones require you to lift the device all the way up, pose in a certain way, wait for it to unlock, and then swipe to get to the homescreen," read's Google's blog post on the feature. "Pixel 4 does all of that in a much more streamlined way."

As with ‌Face ID‌, Face Unlock works on device, so no facial recognition data is shared with Google or Google services. Google says that face data is stored in the Pixel's Titan M security chip, which sounds similar to the Secure Enclave used in Apple's iPhones.

The aforementioned Soli radar chip is designed to sense small motions around the phone, which enables the sensors to activate when you reach for the device and also powers a new Motion Sense feature. Motion Sense will allow users to skip songs, snooze alarms, and silence phone calls by waving a hand in front of the phone.

Rumors have suggested that Apple is also working on iPhones that will incorporate touchless gesture controls for release in the future, though we've heard little about the feature and it's not known when iPhones with this functionality might launch.

As with Google's Motion Sense feature, rumors about Apple's work on gesture-based controls indicate that ‌iPhone‌ users would be able to navigate the operating system by moving their finger close to the screen without actually tapping it.

There's no official word on when Google will launch the Pixel 4, but past Pixel devices have come out in October, so it's likely that this year's launch will also be in October. That'll allow Google to release its new flagship device approximately a month after Apple unveils its new 2019 ‌iPhone‌ lineup in September.

We're likely just six weeks away from Apple unveiling a trio of new iPhones, and on cue, the supply chain is preparing for the new devices.

As it has for the past several summers, Apple's primary manufacturer Foxconn is ramping up its seasonal hiring spree, according to the Economic Daily News. The report claims Foxconn is offering a one-time bonus of 4,500 Chinese yuan, or roughly $650, to employees who renew their contracts right now.

Foxconn needs as many hands on deck as possible at its factory in Shenzhen, China to assist with mass production of the upcoming iPhones, as Apple's first-week sales will likely be in the millions of units as usual.

Apple is widely expected to debut three new iPhones in September with the same 5.8-inch, 6.1-inch, and 6.5-inch sizes as the 2018 lineup.

16-inch MacBook Pro rumors continue to surface, with hit-or-miss industry publication DigiTimes today reporting that the notebook will feature an "ultra-narrow bezel" design and launch in September.

The report suggests that the narrow bezels will allow for the 16-inch MacBook Pro to be roughly the same overall size as the current 15-inch model. Taiwanese contract manufacturer Quanta Computer is expected to assemble the notebook, according to the unnamed supply chain sources cited.

Multiple reports have claimed the 16-inch display will be supplied by LG and have a resolution of 3,072×1,920 pixels.

Last week, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the 16-inch MacBook Pro will also feature a scissor mechanism keyboard, as Apple finally begins to transition away from its troubled butterfly mechanism keyboard design.

16-inch MacBook Pro rumors are beginning to consolidate, but there are still a few conflicting details. This is the second report to mention a September release date, for example, but Apple typically unveils new Macs in October. Either way, it looks like the notebook is coming in the fall.

Kuo believes the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro will live on with refreshes in 2020.

The three iPhones expected to launch in 2020 will feature support for 5G, according to a new note to investors shared today by Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and obtained by MacRumors.

Kuo originally said that two of the three new iPhones coming in 2020 will support 5G, but now believes that Apple will offer 5G in all models to better compete with lower-cost Android smartphones that will support 5G. Kuo also says that following Apple's acquisition of Intel's smartphone modem chip business, Apple has more resources for developing the 5G iPhone.

We now believe that all three new 2H20 iPhone models will support 5G for the following reasons. (1) Apple has more resource for developing the 5G iPhone after the acquisition of Intel baseband business. (2) We expect that the prices of 5G Android smartphones will decline to $249-349 USD in 2H20. We believe that 5G Android smartphones, which will be sold at $249-349 USD, will only support Sub-6GHz. But the key is that consumers will think that 5G is the necessary function in 2H20. Therefore, iPhone models which will be sold at higher prices have to support 5G for winning more subsidies from mobile operators and consumers' purchase intention. (3) Boosting 5G developments could benefit Apple's AR ecosystem.

Kuo says that he expects all three new iPhone models coming in 2020 to support both mmWave and Sub-6GHz spectrum to meet the requirements of the American market, but it is not clear if Apple will launch a ‌5G iPhone‌ that only supports Sub-6GHz, which would allow for a lower price. He says Apple may not have enough development resources for such a project.

Apple may have the intention to launch the 5G iPhone, which only supports Sub-6GHz, to gain market share by lowering the cost/price for markets which only support Sub-6GHz (e.g., Chinese market). However, 5G iPhone, which only supports Sub-6GHz and the version which supports mmWave & Sub-6GHz are regarded as different projects even though they share the same form factor design.

For those unfamiliar with 5G networks, there are actually two different kinds of 5G. mmWave technology is the super fast 5G that's most often talked about, but not all 5G networks are going to use mmWave technology in all areas because it's best suited to denser urban areas.

In rural and suburban areas, 5G technology will be on mid-bands and low-bands, called sub-6GHz 5G. It's still faster than 4G, but not as fast as mmWave. When 5G finishes rolling out, there will be some areas with mmWave technology where data transfer speeds will be lightning quick, coupled with other more expansive areas that are closer to 4G LTE speeds.

Over time, low-band and mid-band 5G speeds should also get much quicker, but at launch, won't be as fast as mmWave, which is most often in the spotlight.

Apple is planning to use modem chips from Qualcomm in its 2020 ‌5G iPhone‌ lineup, despite its recent acquisition of Intel's smartphone modem chip business. Apple is working on its own modem chips, but that technology isn't going to be ready until 2021.

Along with 5G technology, the 2020 iPhones could be available in new sizes. In a previous note, Kuo said that Apple is going to release 5.4 and 6.7-inch high-end iPhones with OLED displays along with a 6.1-inch model with an OLED display. More information on what to expect in the 2020 iPhones can be found in the dedicated what's next section of our 2019 iPhone roundup.

Apple today registered two unreleased iPad models in the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) database, using the model identifiers A2200 and A2232, according to listings uncovered by MySmartPrice and confirmed by MacRumors.

Both ‌iPad‌ models are listed as running iPadOS, suggesting the devices will launch this fall.

The two identifiers follow five other new ‌iPad‌ model numbers that were added to the database earlier this month. As with the previous identifiers, it's unclear which models these numbers refer to, but it's worth noting that Apple has already released a new iPad mini and 10.5-inch iPad Air this year.

That leaves possible revisions to Apple's two iPad Pro models, which analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects will enter mass production in the fourth quarter of 2019 or the first quarter of 2020.

There's also the prospect of a potential successor to the entry-level $329 ‌iPad‌: A recent rumor suggested mass production of a new 10.2-inch ‌iPad‌ was set to start this month, so a launch could in the offing this fall.

In addition to today's ‌iPad‌ filings, Apple also registered several Mac models, but all of them reference machines that are already available, suggesting the filings are simply being updated to reflect models shipping with macOS Catalina, also due to be released in the fall.

Similar EEC filings have preceded the launch of new Apple products on numerous occasions, including multiple ‌iPad‌, ‌iPad Pro‌, iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch, and AirPods models. The filings are legally required for any encrypted devices sold in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia.