MacRumors

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming iOS 12.3 update to developers, a week and a half after releasing the first beta and two weeks after the launch of iOS 12.2, an update that introduced Apple News+, new Animoji, and more.

Registered developers can download the new iOS 12.3 beta from Apple's Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.

iOS 12.3 and tvOS 12.3 introduce a new version of Apple's TV app, which has been updated with a new look and fresh functionality.

In the new TV app, Watch Now and Up Next are still front and center for keeping track of what you're watching, but there's a new machine learning-based recommendation engine that will suggest content based on what you like to watch.

The app's interface has been streamlined with sections for movies, TV shows, sports, and kids content, and on iOS, there's a separate bottom bar for the library, search, and Watch Now options.

There's a new "Channels" feature in the TV app, which is one of the major new components. Channels are subscription services that you can sign up for and watch within the TV app without having to open up another app.

So, for example, if you come across a show you want to watch on your iPhone or Apple TV that's on Showtime, you can tap to subscribe to Showtime right in the TV app, and then you can watch that show without leaving the app.

Some of the new Channels that will be supported include CBS All Access, Starz, Showtime, HBO, Nickelodeon, Mubi, The History Channel Vault, and Comedy Central Now. During the beta, though, users can subscribe to Showtime, Starz, Smithsonian, and Tastemade.

You'll still get recommendations for content from services that aren't a part of Channels, you'll just need to watch non-channel content in a third-party app. When Apple debuts its ‌Apple TV‌+ service this fall, all of the company's original TV shows and movies will be accessible in the TV app.

iOS 12.3 will be in beta testing for the next few weeks ahead of a May launch, the month when Apple said the new TV app will be released.

Paving the way for a 5nm-sized A14 chip in 2020 iPhones, TSMC has announced the release of its complete 5nm chip design infrastructure.

TSMC's continued packaging advancements coupled with Apple's industry-leading mobile chip designs is beneficial for the performance, battery life, and thermal management of future iPhones. That will continue with the 5nm process:

Compared with TSMC's 7nm process, its innovative scaling features deliver 1.8X logic density and 15% speed gain on an ARM® Cortex®-A72 core, along with superior SRAM and analog area reduction enabled by the process architecture. The 5nm process enjoys the benefits of process simplification provided by EUV lithography, and is making excellent progress in yield learning, achieving the best technology maturity at the same corresponding stage as compared to TSMC's previous nodes.

TSMC's 5nm process is already in preliminary risk production and the chipmaker plans to invest $25 billion towards volume production by 2020.

TSMC has been Apple's exclusive supplier of A-series chips since 2016, fulfilling all orders for the A10 Fusion chip in the iPhone 7 and ‌iPhone‌ 7 Plus, the A11 Bionic chip in the ‌iPhone‌ 8, ‌iPhone‌ 8 Plus, and ‌iPhone‌ X, and the A12 Bionic chip in the latest ‌iPhone‌ XS, ‌iPhone‌ XS Max, and ‌iPhone‌ XR.

TSMC's packaging offerings are widely considered to be superior to that of other chipmakers, including Samsung and Intel, so it's not surprising that its exclusivity is poised to continue with A13 chips in 2019 and A14 chips in 2020.

TSMC has been gradually shrinking the size of its dies over the years as it continues to refine its manufacturing process: the A10 Fusion is 16nm, the A11 Bionic is 10nm, and the A12 Bionic is 7nm. A13 chips will likely be 7nm+, benefitting from the process simplification of EUV lithography.

iPhone continues to be the most popular smartphone among American teenagers based on a recent survey.

Meanwhile, 86 percent of U.S. teens expect their next smartphone to be an ‌iPhone‌, matching an all-time high set in fall 2018. This metric has steadily grown in Apple's favor over the years, rising from 75 percent in spring 2016.

‌iPhone‌ popularity among teens is a good sign for Apple, as many of them could stick with the ‌iPhone‌ as an adult. Teens also become locked into the Apple ecosystem at an early age, becoming accustomed to services like iMessage, Apple Music, and iCloud as well as accessories like the AirPods and Apple Watch.

The survey found that 27 percent of U.S. teens own a smartwatch, while 22 percent of respondents plan to purchase an Apple Watch within the next six months. By comparison, 20 percent of teens said they plan to purchase an Apple Watch in the next six months in the year-ago survey.

Piper Jaffray divided its survey into two distinct income groups: "upper-income" with household incomes approximating $100,000 and "average-income" with household incomes approximating $55,000 based on zip code and census data.

In a fresh twist on recent iPhone rumors, Japanese tech blog Mac Otakara today reported that Apple plans to launch two entirely new 2019 ‌iPhone‌ models with triple-lens cameras, which would debut alongside internally updated versions of the current ‌iPhone‌ XR/XS/XS Max lineup.

Citing reliable sources in the Chinese supply chain, the report claims that the two new ‌iPhone‌ models would come with 6.1-inch and 6.5-inch OLED displays and the previously heavily rumored triple-lens camera system.

The report goes on to suggest the two new models will have a thicker body to compensate for the larger camera module, so the 6.1-inch model will be around 0.15mm thicker than the existing ‌iPhone‌ XS, while the camera bump will see a 0.5mm reduction in protrusion.

Likewise, the body of the 6.5-inch model will supposedly be 0.4mm thicker with a camera bump reduced by 0.25mm, which equates to an overall 0.2mm thickness increase over the current ‌iPhone‌ XS Max.

Mac Otakara claims the two new models will come with a USB-C to Lightning cable and an 18 Watt USB-C power adapter, with an ability for the rear of the phone to wirelessly charge Qi-compatible devices like Apple Watch and AirPods 2 "likely."

In general, the rumor mill narrative suggests triple lens camera systems are a given this year, but most other leaks – from OnLeaks in particular – have implied that the three-lens camera won't be exclusive to any one ‌iPhone‌, and certainly don't suggest it will be a unique feature of additional models in Apple's lineup.

Given the leftfield claims, today's report should be taken with a grain of salt, although ‌Mac Otakara‌ has provided accurate information on unreleased iPhones in the past, so it's possible there's something to it.

The Netflix app for iPhone and iPad no longer appears to support AirPlay, based on an updated support document found on the Netflix website.

According to Netflix, ‌AirPlay‌ is no longer supported on ‌iPhone‌, ‌iPad‌, or iPod touch due to "technical limitations." There are no details from Netflix on what those technical limitations might be.

Several MacRumors readers have attempted to use ‌AirPlay‌ with the Netflix app over the course of the last few days and have run into issues doing so from the Netflix app.

‌AirPlay‌ can still be initiated using the Control Center on an iOS device, but when attempting to test the feature, we were unable to get Netflix content to play and received an error message.

It's not clear why ‌AirPlay‌ support has been removed from the Netflix app. The feature has been available since 2013 and it was working up until this week.

Netflix apps are available on the Apple TV, consoles, smart TVs, iOS devices, and more, so there's not a real need to use ‌AirPlay‌ to watch Netflix content, but there were instances where it was convenient to use.

Netflix has in recent months been making efforts to better protect its content. In December, Netflix stopped allowing customers to sign up for Netflix within the iOS app, and Netflix has never opted to participate in Apple's TV app, making it unavailable in the "Up Next" feature of Watch Now.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings recently confirmed that Netflix had no plans to be a part of Apple's TV plans and said that Netflix isn't interested in offering its content in alternate ways. "We want to have people watch our shows on our services," he said.

Update: A Netflix spokesperson provided further explanation on the company's decision to discontinue support for ‌AirPlay‌ on iOS devices, attributing it to the rollout of ‌AirPlay‌ support on third party devices and an inability to distinguish between them:

"We want to make sure our members have a great Netflix experience on any device they use. With ‌AirPlay‌ support rolling out to third-party devices, there isn't a way for us to distinguish between devices (what is an ‌Apple TV‌ vs. what isn't) or certify these experiences. Therefore, we have decided to discontinue Netflix ‌AirPlay‌ support to ensure our standard of quality for viewing is being met. Members can continue to access Netflix on the built-in app across ‌Apple TV‌ and other devices."

With the launch of macOS 10.15, Apple may be planning to release separate Music and Podcasts apps for the Mac, according to developer Steve Troughton-Smith.

In a tweet shared this afternoon, Troughton-Smith said that based on evidence he's discovered, Apple appears to be working on new UIKit-based Music, Podcasts, and Books apps for macOS, all three of which will join the TV app that Apple has said is in the works.

Separate apps for each of these services suggest that Apple is planning to break up the iTunes app for Mac, which is where Podcasts, Movies, and TV Shows are available at the current time. Apple already has a Books app, but an updated version or separate app that includes audiobooks could be in development.

Apple will macOS 10.15 alongside iOS 13 at its 2019 Worldwide Developers Conference, which is set to kick off on June 3.

Apple in late March unveiled its new Apple News+ service, which is designed to let ‌Apple News‌ users access over 200 magazines and some paywalled news content for a $9.99 per month fee.

We've been using ‌Apple News‌+ over the course of the last week and a half and in our latest YouTube video, we explore whether the service is worth the $9.99 monthly cost.

All the new ‌Apple News‌+ content is accessible through a new ‌Apple News‌+ section in the ‌Apple News‌ app, which is displayed regardless of whether you subscribe to ‌Apple News‌+. ‌Apple News‌+ features a My Magazines section with content that you're reading along with story and magazine suggestions from ‌Apple News‌ editors.

The user interface looks simple enough, but there are some quirks that have been confusing new subscribers. There's no clear way to add a new magazine to the My Magazines list, and in fact, you have to search for the title of the magazine in the standard ‌Apple News‌ interface and "favorite" it with a heart to get it to show up reliably in My Magazines or tap the title to get taken to an overview page, neither of which is intuitive.

To further confuse things, some magazines that you've read but haven't favorited will temporarily be displayed in My Magazines, and there are no options anywhere to control what shows up there, nor to customize content recommendations to make them more relevant to one's interests.

When it comes to the magazines themselves, newly released magazine issues from major companies have a digital-focused interface that lets you scroll through a list of stories to get to what you want to read, but for back issues and lesser known magazines, content is presented in a PDF format that's less than ideal.

PDFs look all right on iPad, but are difficult to read on iPhone, and the Mac interface for ‌Apple News‌+ is no better. The single page spread on Mac features small text that's not easy to zoom into, making reading PDF-based magazines on most devices a less than stellar experience.

News content is included in ‌Apple News‌+, but in the case of The ‌Wall Street Journal‌, there are some limitations. While you can access The ‌Wall Street Journal‌'s full range of content, Apple is only highlighting a selection of general interest news stories, and to find anything else, you have to search. ‌Apple News‌+ also only retains three days of archived content.

Other major newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post have refused to join Apple News+, and it's not clear if these publications will change their position.

‌Apple News‌+ is likely to improve in the future with interface updates and as more magazines adopt the customized digital-forward design, but right now, the service feels sloppy, unfinished, and confusing.

It's also not clear if it's something that will interest the general public given the heavy focus on magazines and the lack of subscription-based news that's available. Apple's prior magazine effort, Apple Newsstand, was ultimately unsuccessful. Unlimited access to magazine content might lure more readers, but whether this new venture will succeed remains to be seen.

‌Apple News‌+ had more than 200,000 subscribers following its March introduction, but all of those accounts are still on the one-month free trial that's available and are not yet paying customers.

Have you signed up for ‌Apple News‌+ and do you plan to keep the subscription? Let us know in the comments, and if you have questions about ‌Apple News‌+, make sure to check out our Apple News+ guide.

Apple Music has surpassed Spotify's paid subscriber count in the United States, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke with The Wall Street Journal. The shift reportedly happened earlier in 2019; Apple had more than 28 million U.S. subscribers in February compared to Spotify's 26 million paid U.S. subscribers.

Similar news broke last summer from an industry source, but now months later the WSJ is corroborating the report. According to the paper, ‌Apple Music‌ has been adding subscribers "more rapidly" than Spotify, with a monthly growth rate of 2.6 to 3 percent, compared to 1.5 to 2 percent for Spotify.

‌Apple Music‌ is starting to see growth in areas outside the United States as well:

Apple Music is growing faster globally—at a rate of about 2.4% to 2.8%, compared with Spotify’s 2% to 2.3%—and the gap is starting to close in other markets outside the U.S., according to the people familiar with the numbers.

The numbers reported today refer only to paying subscribers and exclude any user on the ‌Apple Music‌ three-month free trial or the Spotify ad-supported subscription tier. If the figures did include the free tiers, Spotify does have many more users overall in the United States.

In February 2018, the WSJ predicted that ‌Apple Music‌ would soon overtake Spotify in the U.S., but thanks to Spotify's numerous bundle offerings with Hulu and Showtime, Spotify remained in the lead for a while longer. ‌Apple Music‌ does offer discounts for families and students, but has yet to partner with another streaming video company to offer a bundle like Spotify.

Apple has become increasingly focused on its services business in recent years, given their high profitability thanks to monthly and/or yearly subscription costs. ‌Apple Music‌ debuted in 2015 at $9.99/month, but the company also offers iCloud storage at various price levels, and just launched Apple News+ at $9.99/month. Later in 2019, users will have a chance to sign up for Apple Arcade and Apple TV+, both of which have not yet been given price points.