MacRumors

Future movies from Universal Pictures will come to online platforms like iTunes and Apple TV just 17 days after a theatrical release following a deal between Universal and AMC Theaters, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Under the terms of the deal, the theatrical window for new movies will be shortened to 17 days from the current 75 days, so viewers will be able to watch new titles online as soon as 2.5 weeks after they first appear in theaters.

During the pandemic, Universal had been experimenting with offering movies online while they're still in theaters, which AMC was not happy with. Universal's digital release of "Trolls World Tour" in the early months of the coronavirus was a success, earning more than $100 million in three weeks, and spurring the company to further experiment with digital releases.

Movie theaters have been closed, but AMC said that if Universal released new movies direct to digital platforms, it would not show new Universal releases. With the new 17-day theatrical release window, however, the dispute between the two companies has been settled.

According to The Wall Street Journal, this deal for shorter theatrical releases between AMC and Universal Pictures could put pressure on rivals of both companies to establish similar online release timelines.

AMC Chief Executive Adam Aron said that AMC will have an opportunity to generate additional revenue by offering new Universal films on its AMC Theaters on Demand platform. New Universal titles will also be released on digital platforms like ‌Apple TV‌ and Amazon.

While theaters are shut down due to the coronavirus, movie studios have been delaying releases. "Tenet," "The Quiet Place 2," "Mulan," and countless other titles have seen continual delays. Some other movies have been released directly online, which more studios may be forced to do if the movie theater shutdowns continue.

As rumors of the iPhone 12 have continued to build over the past few months, the one model that has the most excitement around it is the smallest 5.4" model. The iPhone 12 is believed to be coming in 5.4", 6.7", and 6.1" sizes.

Dummy models have shown how much smaller the 5.4" is compared to the rest of the iPhone lineup. The upcoming 5.4" iPhone falls in-between the size of the original iPhone SE and the 2020 iPhone SE, representing the smallest iPhone from Apple in years.

While Apple once advertised the relatively small form factor of the 4" iPhone 5 as being the perfect size for one handed use, there has been a steady growth in device sizes from the original 3.5" size to the largest 6.5" size. The smallest iPhone you can presently purchase is the 2020 iPhone SE which uses the 4.7" screen size of the iPhone 7/8.

While the rumored 5.4" screen size is larger than the 4.7" screen size of the iPhone 7/8, the removal of the Home Button from the body allows the overall device size to be smaller.

To see how much smaller, we've created these images that will let existing full screen Face ID iPhone owners see exactly how a 5.4" iPhone will feel in hand. Simply, open the corresponding image on your iPhone to see. Left and right aligned images are provided.

• iPhone 11, XR: Left Handed, Right Handed
• iPhone 11 Pro, XS, X: Left Handed, Right Handed
• iPhone 11 Pro Max, XS Max: Left Handed, Right Handed

For the full effect, save the image to your camera roll and view in full screen. The iPhone 12 is expected to be released in September or October of this year.

Oct 15, 2020 Update: Images have been updated to reflect final iPhone 12 Mini design

Many of Apple's retail stores in the United States remain closed at this time due to the ongoing spread of the coronavirus, and in others, social distancing policies are in place, which has necessitated the suspension of in-person programs like Today at Apple and Field Trip.

Apple recently announced that it is ending the Apple Field Trip program, which was designed to allow K-12 students and youth groups to visit Apple retail stores for hands-on group sessions led by an Apple employee. As 9to5Mac points out, Apple's website for the Field Trip experience now confirms that Apple Field Trip has been canceled.

A "new educational experience" is coming soon to take the place of Apple Field trip, and it's likely to be a digital offering that will provide activities and video lessons for children. Apple has already launched an Apple Camp at Home program that provides digital programs focused on video, art, design, and coding, along with a self-guided activity book and live sessions with Apple Creative Pros hosted over Webex.

Today at Apple has also been replaced with a digital-based offering at the current time, so Field Trip could potentially be similar to both Apple Camp and the virtual Today at Apple sessions that Apple has begun offering.

An updated MacBook Air could be coming in the not too distant future, according to certifications for a new ‌MacBook Air‌ battery recently filed in China and Denmark.

A 49.9Wh battery with a capacity of 4380mAh was spotted by a MySmartPrice contributor in certification filings with UL Demko and the China Certification Corporation, regulatory bodies that must approve and test new hardware used by Apple and other companies.

The battery appears to be destined for a future ‌MacBook Air‌, given the capacity. The current ‌MacBook Air‌ has a 49.9Wh battery as this model does, though Apple is using a new A2389 model number that is different from the A1965 model number used in the last few ‌MacBook Air‌ generations.

There's no word on when a new ‌MacBook Air‌ might launch, and these kinds of filings can sometimes happen months ahead of when a new product comes out. Multiple rumors have suggested that the ‌MacBook Air‌ will be one of the first Macs to get an Apple Silicon chip, and the new Arm-based machine could come before the end of 2020.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes a refreshed MacBook Air with an ‌Apple Silicon‌ chip could come in the fourth quarter of 2020 or the first quarter of 2021, while DigiTimes has said that a new Arm-based ‌MacBook Air‌ will be released in 2020.

Apple has confirmed that the first ‌Apple Silicon‌ Macs are expected before the end of the year, but has not provided details on which machines will be upgraded first. Apple already upgraded the ‌MacBook Air‌ in 2020 with 10th-generation Intel processors and a scissor switch keyboard, but it's not out of the question that a second update could come in 2020 given the swap to ‌Apple Silicon‌ chips.

The 49.9Wh battery in the current ‌MacBook Air‌ provides up to 11 hours of battery life when browsing the web and up to 12 hours when using the Apple TV app for watching movies.

If the next ‌MacBook Air‌ set to receive this new 49.9Wh battery is an ‌Apple Silicon‌ Mac, there could be some potential gains in battery life even if the battery size isn't increasing.

‌Apple Silicon‌ chips are expected to be much more power efficient than the current Intel chips used in the ‌MacBook Air‌ lineup, so in addition to performance improvements, battery life could be bumped up as well.

For more on what we're expecting for the next ‌MacBook Air‌, check out our MacBook Air roundup, and for details on Apple's transition to ‌Apple Silicon‌ chips, read our in-depth guide.

Ahead of Apple CEO Tim Cook's testimony before U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday at an antitrust hearing, senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller has defended App Store policies, in an interview with Reuters.

Schiller explained that the ‌App Store‌ was initially viewed at Apple as an experiment in offering "compellingly low commission" to attract developers. Small developers would otherwise face struggling to sell software into physical stores at the time.

"One of the things we came up with is, we're going to treat all apps in the App Store the same - one set of rules for everybody, no special deals, no special terms, no special code, everything applies to all developers the same. That was not the case in PC software. Nobody thought like that. It was a complete flip around of how the whole system was going to work," Schiller said.

He asserted that the review process and ‌App Store‌ rules were necessary since apps are purchased by customers through Apple's own billing system. According to Schiller, when launching the ‌App Store‌, Apple executives believed users would feel more confident purchasing apps if they felt their payment was secure and via a trustworthy vendor. "We think our customers' privacy is protected that way. Imagine if you had to enter credit cards and payments to every app you've ever used," he said.

Apple has been known to make exceptions to its own ‌App Store‌ rules, such as in 2018 with Microsoft, to allow users to log into Minecraft accounts that were purchased externally.

"As we were talking to some of the biggest game developers, for example, Minecraft, they said, 'I totally get why you want the user to be able to pay for it on device. But we have a lot of users coming who bought their subscription or their account somewhere else - on an Xbox, on a PC, on the web. And it's a big barrier to getting onto your store,'" Schiller said. "So we created this exception to our own rule."

Apple's 30 percent commission on sales via the ‌App Store‌ has been criticized by developers. Airbnb and ClassPass have, for example, recently claimed that Apple's demand to take a cut of all online sales through their apps was wrong. Schiller argued that Apple's commission helps to fund an extensive system for developers and that thousands of Apple engineers maintain secure servers to deliver apps and develop the tools to create and test them.

Apple has come under fire for its ‌App Store‌ rules and rate of commission, and there is increasing concern that Apple and Google have now established a "duopoly" on mobile app stores. Apple's ‌App Store‌ policies and commission on in-app purchases have now become part of the ongoing inquiry by U.S. antitrust regulators, and a similar investigation has begun in the EU.

A patent filing, discovered by AppleInsider, shows that Apple has developed a hybrid "combined" audio system using bone conduction technology.

In a patent granted today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office titled "Multipath audio stimulation using audio compressors," Apple lays out its conception of an audio device that seeks to overcome the issues usually associated with bone conduction. Bone conduction technology allows users to listen to sound without earpieces by transmitting vibrations through specific points on specific points on a users' skull to reach the ear. While some bone conduction audio devices already exist on the market, they have remained fairly unusual.

Bone conduction works best at lower frequencies, with audio quality deteriorating at higher frequencies, and some users may find the necessary head-contacts uncomfortable. Apple's patented bone conduction system is unique because it combines it with normal air-based sound transmission to overcome the drawbacks of other bone conduction systems.

Apple explains that audio signals could be filtered and compressed into three categories, high-frequency components, mid-frequency components, and low-frequency components. A combined signal of the low and mid-frequency components would be transmitted through the user's skull with bone conduction, but the high-frequency component, that would otherwise be ineffective via bone conduction, would be sent through the air as normal. The patent suggests that the necessary air conduction system in this setup would be constructed in such a way as to not block the ear canal. Apple's hybrid system therefore combines the advantages of both bone and air-based audio conduction.

Apple has previously explored bone conduction technology to bring advanced noise cancellation to earbuds. Unlike this system, the previous patent works in reverse, using accelerometers to detect vibrations in the skull for noise cancellation. While Apple has brought noise cancellation to AirPods Pro, it has yet to institute any bone conduction technologies in its products. The technology would seemingly fit most comfortably into the successful AirPods line, but patents are not always indicative of Apple's immediate plans.

CES 2021 will be an all-digital experience, following a decision made by the Consumer Technology Association amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in the United States. Taking place from January 6-9, 2021, the show will let companies showcase new products and other tech news through live streaming video feeds.

"Amid the pandemic and growing global health concerns about the spread of COVID-19, it's just not possible to safely convene tens of thousands of people in Las Vegas in early January 2021 to meet and do business in person,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CTA.

“Technology helps us all work, learn and connect during the pandemic – and that innovation will also help us reimagine CES 2021 and bring together the tech community in a meaningful way. By shifting to an all-digital platform for 2021, we can deliver a unique experience that helps our exhibitors connect with existing and new audiences."

CTA said that it plans to reveal more information about ‌CES 2021‌ as the event gets closer. The association also noted that it plans to return to its typical in-person conference in Las Vegas for CES 2022, where it will "combine the best elements of a physical and digital show."

While Apple typically doesn't attend CES, in 2020 the company did make an appearance to showcase its HomeKit platform. Otherwise, many Apple accessory companies do attend the show and introduce new products each year.

Apple Highcross in the British city of Leicester is set to reopen on Wednesday, which will mark the first time every Apple retail store in the United Kingdom has been open since the country's lockdown began in March in response to the global health crisis.

Michael Steeber on Twitter noted the change on Apple's Highcross store web page, which indicates the retail location will open on July 29 at 10:00 a.m.

Leicester became the first city in Britain to be placed in a local lockdown on June 29, after public health officials voiced concern at the city's alarming rise in coronavirus infection rates.

At the time, Leicester accounted for 10% of all positive infection results in the country, and the seven-day rate was three times higher than the next highest city. The rate is now less than half of what it was when extra restrictions were put in place.

Following a gradual easing of the city's lockdown restrictions, non-essential stores at Leicester's Highcross shopping center began to reopen on Monday. Safety measures remain in place, including a one-way system in the center, clear signs throughout the center reminding everyone of the need to social distance and to avoid shopping in large groups.

For its part, Apple continues to provide face masks to customers and check their temperature at all its brick-and-mortar stores, where it is limiting occupancy. There is also a renewed focus on Genius Support and Apple's one‑to‑one personalized services.

Airbnb and ClassPass have claimed that Apple's demand to take a cut of online sales was wrong, reports The New York Times.

ClassPass helps users to book classes at local gyms, but due to the global situation, they were forced to move their business online and offer virtual classes instead. ClassPass claims that it received a "concerning" message from Apple stating that a 30 percent commission on sales was now required. Apple reportedly explained that long-standing App Store rules entitle it to a significant cut of online sales, although none were required previously because classes were held in person.

With gyms temporarily shut, ClassPass rolled back its usual commission on virtual classes, passing 100 percent of sales directly to gyms. ClassPass explains that Apple was therefore, in effect, asking for a cut of sales from struggling independent fitness centers, yoga studios, and boxing gyms. Instead of complying with the rule, ClassPass pulled virtual classes from its iPhone app.

Airbnb reports a similar experience when it began to offer "online experiences," such as virtual cooking classes and meditation sessions, to respond to the changing demands of customers in recent months. When demanding commission on these online sales, Apple said that it believed that Airbnb had intended to offer virtual experiences for some time, and despite establishing its multibillion-dollar business with the help of its ‌iPhone‌ app, Apple never previously asked for fees. Apple's negotiations with Airbnb are ongoing, but Apple has cautioned that if the two companies cannot come to terms, it may remove Airbnb's app from the ‌App Store‌.

Apple commented that waiving the commission in these cases would not be fair to many other app developers that have paid commission for similar services. "To ensure every developer can create and grow a successful business, Apple maintains a clear, consistent set of guidelines that apply equally to everyone," the company said in a statement. Apple said a small fraction of ‌iPhone‌ apps were subject to its commission, which is in line with the fees other platforms charge, according to a study released by Apple last Wednesday.

Many companies and app developers have recently complained that Apple forces them to pay commission to be included in the ‌App Store‌, which is essential to reach the 900 million potential customers with iPhones. Many complain about Apple's "capricious enforcement" of rules, which can lead to their apps' removal from the ‌App Store‌ and damage to their business.

Both Airbnb and ClassPass have discussed Apple's demands with congressional offices that are investigating how Apple controls the ‌App Store‌ as part of a year-long antitrust inquiry. Tim Cook and various other big tech CEOs are set to participate in an antitrust hearing on Wednesday.

Apple is expected to launch an all-OLED iPhone lineup this year, and while Samsung is understood to be providing the majority of the OLED panels, LG Display is reportedly poised to benefit the most from the extra demand, with Samsung's order volume rising only slightly on previous years.

Of the four new models coming this year, rumors have indicated that Samsung will supply the displays for three models: the 5.4-inch entry-level ‌‌iPhone‌ 12‌ and 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch "‌‌iPhone‌ 12‌ Pro" models. Samsung is reportedly planning to ship 30-35 million displays for the 5.4-inch model and 15-20 million displays for each of the high-end 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch models. Meanwhile, LG Display is expected to supply 20 million displays for the low-end 6.1-inch model.

LG Display's contribution is five times the volume from the previous year, according to a new Nikkei report. That's big news for a division that has endured six consecutive quarterly losses, and LG Display believes this will improve its finances considerably in the second half of the year as its OLED panel factories begin to operate at full capacity.

It's also positive news for Apple as it aims to diversify suppliers after paying high charges for Samsung's displays. After failing to meet projected ‌iPhone‌ sales in the second quarter of 2020, Apple was obligated to pay Samsung an estimated $950 million for missing OLED panel purchase targets. Apple is reportedly supporting LG Display's OLED development in part to reduce procurement costs and chip away at Samsung's monopoly on the display standard.

As Nikkei notes, however, there's no guarantee that Apple will continue to favor LG Display, which supplied Apple with LCD panels for the ‌iPhone‌ 11 last year but failed to improve the yield of its OLED panels and fully meet delivery targets the previous summer, which reportedly angered Apple.

Rival Chinese manufacturer BOE has also improved its OLED technology in part by recruiting former Samsung engineers, and Apple has started assessing production quality at BOE plants in the Chinese cities of Chengdu and Mianyang. A previous report even suggested BOE would supply a couple of million OLED displays for the low-end 6.1-inch ‌iPhone‌ 12, but Nikkei's sources indicate that BOE's panels may be adopted next year, which is good news for LG Display this year, but would diminish its role as the main alternative to Samsung in 2021.

Apple is exploring use of an accessory that would allow two iPads to connect together for notebook-style computing, according to a new patent filing uncovered by AppleInsider.

The patent application titled "Modular multiple display electronic devices," filed today with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, explains that when two iPads or iPhones are connected together via an accessory, one could be used as the display, and the other as a dynamic keyboard.

The envisioned coupling accessory consists of two small connectors and a hinge, with mobile devices attaching mechanically to either side. The connector would facilitate data transfers between the devices so that they could work in unison as one system.

Images included in the patent application mainly suggest that this accessory would allow for a notebook-style setup, with one device flat on a surface, with the hinged connector accessory at the back, propping up a second mobile device, in either portrait or landscape orientations.

Use of a second display for a dynamic keyboard would offer several unique solutions, such as allowing functionality to change based on a users' needs, much like the MacBook Pro Touch Bar. Depth and tactile feedback, the likes of which is only achieved by a physical keyboard, would likely be absent, however.

In addition to the notebook-style set up, the patent suggests that if two devices were attached along their longest edges, they could also be used in a book-style setup. This seems to be similar to the layout of the Microsoft Surface Duo.

Second-screen devices have been the subject of numerous Apple patents, such as the application "System with multiple electronic devices," which describes how two or more devices could act as one when brought close to each other through the use of proximity sensors. While Apple files numerous patent applications on a regular basis and many never materialize practically, they can often offer an intriguing insight into Apple's current areas of research and development.

Taylor Swift's new album has achieved a new high for most streamed pop album on Apple Music since its surprise release last week (via Deadline). Folklore set a record for the most streams in a 24-window on the service, reaching 35.47 million plays.

Its success was even more impressive on Spotify, where the singer-songwriter's eighth studio album racked up 79.4 million listens in its first 24 hours of availability, according to Swift's Republic Records label.

Written and recorded remotely during the first few months of the global health crisis, Folklore finds the 30-year-old singer-songwriter teaming up with The National's Aaron Dessner and longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff for a set of ruminative and lo-fi bedroom pop songs.

Since its Thursday release, the album also surpassed 1.3 million global sales in its first twenty-four hours, which should see the album easily debut at No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart, giving it the best showing since Swift's Lover album came out in 2019.

Swift and Apple have famously had a somewhat rocky relationship in previous years, with the artist in 2015 penning an open letter to ‌Apple Music‌ about the service's initial stance on refusing to pay royalties to artists during the three-month free trial period. Swift opposed this aspect of ‌Apple Music‌, so she decided to keep her 2014 album 1989 off of ‌Apple Music‌ at the time.

Soon after the letter was publicized, Apple reversed course and began paying artists during this period of time when new subscribers are on the free trial of ‌Apple Music‌. This eventually led to a closer relationship between Swift and Apple, with her music debuting on the service along with the launch of a series of Apple Music ads starring Swift that debuted throughout the spring of 2016.

More recently, last year Swift partnered with Apple in the company's retail store-hosted "Music Lab" sessions, in which customers find out what inspired artists to write their songs.

Apple journalist Mark Gurman on Tuesday filed a Bloomberg story summarizing what investors perceive as Apple's lackluster return on its TV+, Arcade, News+ and Apple Card services after their first few quarters on the market.

Apple is due to report results on July 30 for the fiscal third quarter, and analysts have forecast $13.1 billion in revenue from services, up 15 percent from a year earlier. However, most of those gains will be from existing services like the App Store and licensing deals, rather than the new offerings.

Apple's TV+ video streaming service made a late entry into an already crowded market when it launched last November, and Gurman cites one analyst's estimates earlier this year that fewer than 15 percent of eligible customers had signed up, despite Apple offering a one-year free trial with the purchase of an iPhone or other hardware.

It's a similar story for Apple Arcade subscription service, which launched last September. Apple reportedly shifted its strategy recently and canceled contracts for some games in development as it sought other titles that it believes will retain subscribers.

Some developers have speculated that Apple's strategy change indicates subscriber growth is weaker than expected, and Apple also recently began offering some people a second free trial month, which perhaps suggests that users aren't remaining subscribers for a long enough period of time.

As for ‌Apple Card‌, Goldman Sachs Group accumulated about $2 billion in credit lines since it launched last August, which is a fraction of other co-branded cards, according to a February update by the Nilson Report.

The poorest services performer however is believed to be Apple News+, which launched in March 2019. ‌Apple News‌‌+ provides access to hundreds of magazines along with subscription news from The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times, but it has failed to catch on with consumers, perhaps due to the lack of access to publications like The New York Times and The Washington Post, which have refused to sign deals with Apple.

Apple has not provided information on how many ‌‌Apple News‌‌+ subscribers it has, but a report in November suggested Apple was struggling to entice people to pay for the service. That report indicated ‌‌Apple News‌‌+ got 200,000 sign ups within 48 hours, but that the numbers have not increased much since then.

In February, Apple's head of business for ‌Apple News‌+ also departed the company less than a year after the $9.99 per month service launched.

That leaves the ‌App Store‌, where Apple's real revenue growth for services lies. Apple takes a cut of 30 percent from all paid apps downloaded from the ‌App Store‌ as well as from in-app purchases. It also takes 30 percent from in-app subscriptions, dropping to 15 percent after the first year.

The ‌App Store‌ generated $32.8 billion in the first half of 2020 for developers, up more than 20 percent from a year earlier, according to Sensor Tower estimates cited by Gurman. Meanwhile, paid subscriptions topped 515 million in the fiscal second quarter.

However, as part of an ongoing antitrust inquiry into Apple's ‌App Store‌ policies, U.S. antitrust regulators are looking into the 30 percent cut that Apple takes from in-app subscriptions. Government lawyers have been meeting with developers over the course of the last several months, and developers have been asked questions about Apple's subscription rules.

Apple chief Tim Cook and other big tech CEOs and are all set to participate in an antitrust hearing on Wednesday held by the U.S. House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee as part of the investigation on competition in digital markets. Whether or not Apple's ‌App Store‌ revenue stream will be dealt a blow as a result of the inquiry remains to be seen.

Spotify for desktop can now directly initiate Chromecast streams, reports 9to5Google.

Previously, the only way to control Chromecast streams on the desktop app was by initiating the stream on the Spotify mobile app first, but now you can do this directly from your Mac via Spotify Connect.

Starting a Chromecast stream on the desktop app can be done by clicking the Devices Available button on the bottom-right corner of the interface, where Google Cast as well as Spotify Connect-enabled speakers will now appear alongside any Bluetooth or AirPlay devices.

The functionality is available in version 1.1.38 of the Spotify app for Mac, and should delight users who have been asking for it in the Spotify Community forums for years.