MacRumors

Apple intends to launch a new iPhone for the budget-conscious Chinese market that features an under-display fingerprint sensor instead of expensive Face ID technology, Chinese media sources have claimed.

According to Sino-based English-language paper The Global Times, Apple will release the new "tailored ‌iPhone‌" in the country to arrest declining sales, which have been worsened by cost pressures from the 18-month long trade war between the U.S and China.

The new phone will reportedly remove Face ID, the facial recognition system for the iPhone, and instead employ an under-display fingerprint function, news site caijing.com.cn reported, citing sources on the upstream industry supply chain. An industry insider revealed that this is likely to "save on costs."

A structured light laser emitter, the major component of Face ID, would cost several hundred yuan, said a Beijing-based representative who preferred to be anonymous. He told the Global Times on Monday that "only Apple can afford it but that would also affect its sales."

Apple has effaced fingerprint recognition entirely in its flagship smartphone lineup, which includes the ‌iPhone‌ XS, ‌iPhone‌ XS Max, and LCD-based ‌iPhone‌ XR. All have a notch at the top of the screen housing the TrueDepth sensing camera in lieu of a Home button, which contained Touch ID's focused capacitive drive ring in earlier iPhones.

Apple was widely rumored to be attempting to integrate ‌Touch ID‌ under the display on 2017's ‌iPhone‌ X, but the company ditched any form of fingerprint scanning after hitting "early line of sight" with ‌Face ID‌. Chinese smartphone brands like Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo have since gone in the opposite direction and extended the adoption of in-display fingerprint sensing technology from their premium smartphones to mid-range models.

The increased use of fingerprint scanners in smartphone screens is also reportedly being driven by a reduction in sensor prices and the price gap between OLED and LCD panels. This strategy adopted by domestic brands appears to have paid off, with Apple losing many Chinese users who prefer smartphones priced at around 5,000 yuan ($731), which has resulted in an increase in purchases of local brands, according to Monday's report.

Despite the market shift to fingerprint sensing tech, many observers believe Apple is done with ‌Touch ID‌ in smartphones, although the company has explored various in-display fingerprint scanner solutions in the past, including fingerprint sensing MicroLED displays. ‌Touch ID‌ has also found a new lease of life on laptop keyboards, specifically in Apple's MacBook Pro with Touch Bar range and the latest MacBook Air.

Notably, following meetings with suppliers in Apple's Asian supply chain in May, Barclays analysts claimed that 2020 model iPhones will have acoustic fingerprint technology that could allow for full-screen ‌Touch ID‌.

Regardless, news of Apple's declining sales in China contrasts with the company's most recent earnings results. CEO Tim Cook said in April that performance in China had improved over the previous quarter, thanks in part to a sales tax cut in the country that allowed Apple to decrease the price of its products, and a "much better tone" in the China-U.S. trade relationship.

Following Apple's announcement that Jony Ive will be leaving the company to start his own design firm later this year, there have been multiple reports speculating on why Ive left and his time at Apple over the course of the last few years.

The Wall Street Journal published one such report over the weekend, suggesting that after the release of the Apple Watch and its failure as a fashion accessory, Ive was dispirited and wanted to take a step back from day to day work at the company.

The report further suggested that Ive's hands-off approach was disrupting work internally as he failed to show up to meetings and failed to offer design team members the guidance they needed, particularly on the iPhone X. Ive was said to be frustrated with an increasing focus on operations over design.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, in an email to NBC News, called the story "absurd" and said that the conclusions drawn by the report "don't match with reality." From Cook's email:

The story is absurd. A lot of the reporting, and certainly the conclusions, just don't match with reality. At a base level, it shows a lack of understanding about how the design team works and how Apple works. It distorts relationships, decisions and events to the point that we just don't recognize the company it claims to describe.

The design team is phenomenally talented. As Jony has said, they're stronger than ever, and I have complete confidence that they will thrive under Jeff, Evans, and Alan's leadership. We know the truth and we know the incredible things they're capable of doing. The projects they're working on will blow you away.

Apple last week said that Ive is leaving Apple to begin his own company, LoveFrom. Apple will be LoveFrom's first client, and Ive said that he plans to continue to work on Apple design projects.

Ive also said that Apple's design team is "stronger, more vibrant, and more talented" than at any other point in time, and that he has complete faith in future Apple products and the Apple design team.

macOS Catalina, currently available to developers and public beta testers in a beta capacity, revives the defunct Expansion Slot Utility app ahead of the launch of the Mac Pro.

The Expansion Slot Utility app is designed for managing and configuring PCI cards, and its return is clearly meant for the ‌Mac Pro‌, which has a total of eight PCIe expansion slots that Mac users can work with.

The Expansion Slot Utility app was discontinued years ago following the launch of the 2008 ‌Mac Pro‌ but the new 2.0 version is back for the modular ‌Mac Pro‌.

Signs of the Expansion Slot Utility app are hidden in the second macOS Catalina beta, and when the ‌Mac Pro‌ becomes available at some point this fall, ‌Mac Pro‌ users will be able to take advantage of the utility.

Apple in iOS 13 and macOS Catalina introduced Project Catalyst, designed to allow iOS developers to port their iPad apps over to the Mac with little effort, making it simpler for developers to design cross-platform apps.

Ars Technica recently spoke with some of the Apple team members responsible for creating and promoting Project Catalyst, and it's worth a read for those who are interested in the feature.

Apple decided to allow developers to port ‌iPad‌ apps instead of iPhone apps because it's a "more natural transition" bringing an app from an ‌iPad‌ to a Mac due to the closer display sizes. From Todd Benjamin, Apple's senior director of marketing for macOS:

Just design-wise, the difference between an iPad app and an iPhone app is that the iPad app has gone through a design iteration to take advantage of more screen space. And as you bring that app over to the Mac... you have something that's designed around that space that you can work with and that you can start from.

Ali Ozer, Apple's cocoa engineering manager, also said that choosing the ‌iPad‌ pre-empts user concerns about mobile ports spilling over to the desktop. "This is one way of making developers aware that an ‌iPhone‌ app in its current form might not be the right design," said Ozer.

Developers who have already used Project Catalyst have been able to port ‌iPad‌ versions of Twitter, TripIt, and Asphalt 9: Legends to the Mac. The developers that have worked with Project Catalyst told Ars that it was, on the whole, simple to use and "able to just work," as one Twitter developer said.

As for quality concerns, Apple's Catalyst team expects public reviews to be a major factor when it comes to ensuring Mac apps offer a rich, Mac-like experience. From Shaan Pruden, Apple's senior director of partner management and developer relations:

"Then we come down to customers' reaction and ratings and all of that kind of stuff. Which hopefully will drive the right behavior for a developer, which is to do the work and do it right and don't be lazy."

The full deep dive into Project Catalyst can be read over on the Ars Technica website, and it goes into detail on just how Project Catalyst functions, what developers think of the feature thus far, and it shares Apple's thoughts on SwiftUI.

As it has done in years past, Apple yesterday marched in the annual San Francisco Pride parade, which is one of the bigger Pride events in the country and sees nearly 100,000 spectators during the event. Apple employees appeared in the parade with a large sign that showcased a rainbow version of the Apple logo.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was in attendance, as seen in a few selfies taken during the parade with fans and fellow Apple employees. A few other Apple executives marked the event as well, including Apple's new retail chief Deirdre O'Brien.

Apple has celebrated Pride in multiple ways this year, including the launch of the new Apple Watch Pride Sport Loop earlier in June. The new watch band is the third iteration of the Pride design for the Apple Watch, following two rainbow-emblazoned Woven Nylon Pride bands that released in 2017 and 2018.

The company also routinely donates to charities that support LGBTQ individuals, and Cook himself is set to receive GLSEN's "Champion Award" for his ongoing commitment to fighting for LGBTQ rights. Cook recently stated, "I am grateful to GLSEN for this honor and for all their work to ensure the LGBTQ community is treated with dignity and respect."

Apple has long voiced support for LGBTQ causes like same sex marriage, as well as having spoken out against some controversial laws that predominantly risked negatively affecting the lives of gay, lesbian, and transgender individuals.

Before he publicly came out as gay in late 2014, Apple CEO ‌Tim Cook‌ fought for equality in speeches and op-eds. Under late CEO Steve Jobs, Apple also opposed many discriminatory laws, including 2008's Proposition 8 that sought to eliminate the right to same sex marriage in California.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Apple today announced a new series of live concerts that will be held in retail locations around the world this summer, under a new initiative called "Up Next Live." All of the artists playing concerts are alumni of Apple Music's Up Next program, which highlights up-and-coming musicians.

For Up Next Live, this includes Khalid, Bad Bunny, Jessie Reyez, King Princess, Lewis Capaldi, Daniel Caesar, and Ashley McBryde (via MacGeneration).

The concerts will be held at places including Apple Union Square in San Francisco, Apple Champs-Élysés in Paris, Apple Carnegie Library in Washington, D.C., and Apple Michigan Avenue in Chicago. The event kicks off with Bad Bunny's performance at Apple Piazza Liberty on July 9, and then one concert will be held each week through Khalid's performance in Washington, D.C. on August 23.

This summer, seven of music’s brightest rising stars will play intimate after‑hours concerts at seven marquee Apple Store locations around the world. All of the artists are alumni of Apple Music’s Up Next program; some are on the brink of massive success, while others have already achieved it. Either way, you’ll never see them perform like this again.

To get into each concert, you'll have to be 16 years of age or older, and register for tickets on Apple's website. Tickets will be free but are subject to a random draw; those who win will gain one ticket for themselves and one for a guest. All ticket registration closes on July 3, so those interested should check out Apple's ticketing site soon.

Eddy Cue recently spoke with The Times to discuss various topics related to Apple's services, which he helps run, including Apple Music, Apple News+, and the upcoming Apple TV+. Much of the interview focused on ‌Apple TV‌+ and its launch this fall, with Cue stating that Apple's focus will be on quality over quantity.

Apple's plan will be in direct contrast to Netflix, which creates a lot of content every month for its subscribers to watch. Cue said that "there's nothing wrong with that model, but it's not our model." Apple will release new shows and episodes consistently, but not nearly at the same rate as Netflix.

When asked why Apple can be trusted with creating high-quality TV dramas, Cue admitted that the company wasn't up to the task, so it hired people who are. This is referring to Apple's hiring of Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg from Sony, who have "incredible taste" according to Cue.

Yet this talk of quality prompts my next question. Apple knows its music and he knows his sport, but what do they know about TV drama? What's Apple's taste in that?

"That's a great question, one we asked ourselves too. Look, we don't know a lot about television other than we are big consumers of it, but that doesn't quite qualify you as an expert by any means. The thing that we're smart about is when we don't know about something we want to get into, we go and find the best people for it."

Jumping to the topic of ‌Apple News‌+, Cue stated that one of Apple's big goals right now is to convince younger people to subscribe to the service. ‌Apple News‌+ has been struggling since its launch earlier this year, as many publishers are unimpressed with the revenue generated from the service.

“One of the things we’re trying to do is to get people to understand that curated, high-quality news, is worth something. For you and I that’s not a big deal. We’ve known that all our lives. If you’re 20 years old, I’m not sure you think that way.”

Cue also commented on the growing success of ‌Apple Music‌, which recently hit 60 million paid subscribers. According to the Apple executive, ‌Apple Music‌ grew out of the company's "real love for music": "The history of Apple and music goes to the very beginning. It's been a big part of the DNA. It was a big part of Steve Jobs's life. He always knew that music was a big part of making him who he was."

At WWDC in June, Apple said iOS 13 would bring live radio requests to Siri from iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and Radio.com, but it looks like that rollout is already underway ahead of the software's release in the fall.

Macerkopf.de this morning reports that some users in Germany are having success asking Siri to play live national radio stations over HomePods running the latest official software and via Apple Music on devices running iOS 12.

It's not clear how far the company has got in laying the groundwork for live radio ‌Siri‌ requests elsewhere, but Apple says that come the official global rollout in the fall, Apple device owners will have around 100,000 radio stations to choose from.

Other new features destined for HomePod this fall include Handoff for music, podcasts, and phone calls, as well as individual voice recognition for up to six users.

Apple says the latter feature will enable a personalized listening experience and personal access to messages, reminders, lists, and calendars, as well as the ability to make phone calls from the user's contacts.

The first alleged leaked CAD renders of Apple's 2019 iPhones appeared on Slashleaks this morning. Smartphone CAD images shared online are usually touted as official designs leaked from production factories and are often used by case makers to predict the design of unreleased devices.

Regardless of the authenticity of these renders, they do line up with rumors regarding the company's upcoming flagship smartphones and serve as a reminder of what to expect from the devices, likely to be launched in September.

Rumors suggest the successors of the ‌iPhone‌ XS, ‌iPhone‌ XS Max, and ‌iPhone‌ XR will again be 5.8 and 6.5-inch OLED iPhones along with a 6.1-inch LCD ‌iPhone‌, respectively.

The 5.8 and 6.5-inch ‌iPhone‌ XS and XS Max successors are expected to feature triple-lens cameras, while the LCD ‌iPhone‌ will use a dual-lens camera setup, as depicted in the rear square patches on the top-left of the devices.

The camera bump has proven quite controversial since it was first leaked by OnLeaks in January, with many criticizing the look of both the bump itself and the positioning of the camera lenses within the bump.

Some have also questioned why the successor to the ‌iPhone‌ XR would have a square bump for a dual-lens setup when a pill-shaped bump is used on the ‌iPhone‌ X, ‌iPhone‌ XS, and ‌iPhone‌ XS Max, although Apple may simply be adopting it to draw a distinction with previous models and maintain consistency across the new line-up.

Either way, the third camera on the next ‌iPhone‌ XS and ‌iPhone‌ XS Max is rumored to be an ultra-wide-angle lens that enables a broader range of zoom, while the second lens on the next ‌iPhone‌ XR is expected to enable increased zoom as well.

Otherwise, the 2019 ‌iPhone‌ lineup is expected to look similar to the Apple's current smartphones, but Apple may be planning to use a new frosted glass design for the back of the 5.8 and 6.5-inch devices. The 6.1-inch ‌iPhone‌, meanwhile, could come in new lavender and green shades.

The CAD renders also point to Apple sticking with a Lightning port for this year's iPhones, rather than the USB-C port it adopted for its 2018 iPad Pro models, as suggested by Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Other changes mooted include larger batteries, the ability to wirelessly charge other devices, and new technology for indoor positioning and navigation. We don't yet know what Apple will call the new iPhones, but ‌iPhone‌ XI or ‌iPhone‌ 11 are possibilities for the ‌iPhone‌ XS successors.

Shortly after Apple's announcement last week that Jony Ive was leaving the company, Bloomberg published a report that suggested his departure had been viewed internally for some time as an inevitability ever since the Apple Watch was launched in 2015.

This morning, The Wall Street Journal published a report on his last years at Apple, based on conversations over more than a year with people who worked with Ive, as well as people close to Apple's leadership.

The report follows a similar narrative of a design team frustrated with Ive's growing absence, but shines a spotlight on the design chief's own discontent within the company, which he felt was becoming less design-focused and more operations-led.

According to sources who spoke to WSJ, Ive pushed for the Apple Watch to be made despite disagreements from some executives, who questioned if a device so small could have a killer app that would compel people to buy it.

When CEO Tim Cook approved the project in 2013, Ive "threw himself into it" and oversaw the software interface team as well as the industrial design, conducting meetings almost daily and immersing himself in detail.

Ive reportedly wanted to position the watch as a fashion accessory, but some Apple leaders envisioned it as an extension of the iPhone. Eventually a compromise was agreed, and the $349 watch was tethered to the ‌iPhone‌, with Apple creating a $17,000 gold version and partnering with Hermès.

The company sold about 10 million units in the first year, a quarter of what Apple forecast, a person familiar with the matter told WSJ. Thousands of the gold version are said to have gone unsold.

Ive said his work on the Apple Watch in 2014 had been one of his most challenging years at the company, and told Cook he wanted to step back from day-to-day management responsibilities and have "time and space to think."

Ive's promotion to chief design officer was a recognition of his desire to step back, but the change reportedly proved disruptive internally. In one example, Ive is said to have promised to hold a "design week" each month with software designers to discuss their work on the ‌iPhone‌ X, but he rarely showed up. Even when he was involved, Ive's leadership over key decisions seemed weakened.

For the iPhone X model, Mr. Ive and other Apple leaders decided the phone would have no home button. The human interface team was asked to design software features that could return people to the homescreen without it.

For the January 2017 meeting at the Battery, Apple security escorted prototypes up from headquarters in an airtight, Pelican case. The team presented a multitude of features for Mr. Ive's approval, including how to transition from lock screen to home screen.

Pressure was on to finalize features before for the phone's autumn unveiling. Team members were disappointed Mr. Ive failed to give them the guidance they needed. "It was [a] rough development cycle," said one person at the meetings.

After the ‌iPhone‌ X launch in September 2017, a key designer left and others were considering leaving, as Ive's absence strained the cohesion central to product development.

Sensing discontent, Cook asked Ive to resume day-to-day responsibilities later the same year. Ive agreed, which initially encouraged designers, but his absences later resumed as he spent more time in the U.K., where his father has been ill.

Around this time, Ive had reportedly become "dispirited" by Cook, who is said to have "showed little interest in the product development process," according to people in the design studio. Ive also grew frustrated as Apple's board became increasingly populated by directors with backgrounds in finance and operations rather than technology or other areas of the company's core business.

Despite his decision to leave, Ive brought the industrial-design and human-interface teams together in one office thanks to his work on Apple Park, and is said to have created new processes for more quickly prototyping new products and software features.

A colleague who has worked closely with Ive told WSJ: "He built Apple into this ID (industrial design) and HI (human interface) powerhouse. What does that mean going forward? None of us know. It's not the team that he inherited."

At WWDC 2019 earlier this month, Apple announced Sign In with Apple, a new privacy-focused login feature that will allow macOS Catalina and iOS 13 users to sign into third-party apps and websites using their Apple ID.

The feature has been largely welcomed as a more secure alternative to similar sign-in services offered by Facebook, Google, and Twitter, since it authenticates the user with Face ID or Touch ID, and doesn't send personal information to app and website developers.

However the implementation of Sign In with Apple has now been questioned by the OpenID Foundation (OIDF), a non-profit organization whose members include Google, Microsoft, PayPal, and others.

In an open letter to Apple software chief Craig Federighi, the foundation praised Apple's authentication feature for having "largely adopted" OpenID Connect, a standardized protocol used by many existing sign-in platforms that lets developers authenticate users across websites and apps without them having to use separate passwords.

Yet it cautioned that several differences remain between OpenID Connect and Sign In with Apple that could potentially put users' security and privacy in jeopardy.

The current set of differences between OpenID Connect and Sign In with Apple reduces the places where users can use Sign In with Apple and exposes them to greater security and privacy risks. It also places an unnecessary burden on developers of both OpenID Connect and Sign In with Apple. By closing the current gaps, Apple would be interoperable with widely-available OpenID Connect Relying Party software.

To remedy the situation, the foundation asked Apple to address the differences between Sign In with Apple and OpenID Connect, which have been recorded in a document managed by the OIDF certification team.

It also invited the company to use OpenID's suite of certification tests to improve the interoperability of the two platforms, publicly state their compatibility, and join the OpenID Foundation.

Shortly after unveiling Sign In with Apple, the tech giant told developers that if an app lets users log in using their Facebook or Google logins, then it must also provide an alternative Sign In with Apple option.

The company then raised some eyebrows when it emerged that its updated Human Interface Guidelines asked app developers to place its authentication feature above other rival third-party sign-in options wherever they appeared.

(Thanks, Jonathan!)

Apple has identified an undisclosed issue with the logic board in "a very small number" of 2018 MacBook Air units, according to an internal document distributed to Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers on Friday. The document was obtained by MacRumors from a source who has proven reliable.

Apple will replace the main logic board in affected ‌MacBook Air‌ units, free of charge. Apple will also send an email to affected customers to let them know that their notebooks are eligible for a main logic board replacement. Apple did not provide any specific details or symptoms pertaining to the "issue."

2018 ‌MacBook Air‌ owners can visit Apple's support website to schedule an appointment with an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider. When the serial number of an affected ‌MacBook Air‌ is entered into Apple's internal repair system, a message will direct technicians to replace the logic board.

Apple will authorize coverage within four years of the ‌MacBook Air‌'s original purchase date. If the notebook has accidental damage that the customer does not want repaired, technicians are instructed to proceed with the logic board replacement at no cost as long as the damage does not prevent completion of the repair.

If accidental damage does prevent the logic board replacement from being completed, Apple says the customer must pay for necessary repairs in order to get the logic board replaced at no cost.

Apple has not publicly announced this repair policy, likely due to what it believes is a very small number of affected customers. While we are confident this information is accurate, as it comes from a consistently reliable source, we cannot guarantee that all Apple employees will acknowledge the policy.

This is at least the third repair program that Apple has introduced in the past five weeks, alongside its 2015 15-inch MacBook Pro battery recall and replacement program and 2016 13-inch MacBook Pro display backlight service program.