MacRumors

MacRumors last month reported that Roku was in talks with Apple about supporting AirPlay 2, and we've since learned that the negotiations are nearly finalized, according to a source familiar with the matter.

AirPlay 2 integration is expected to arrive in the form of a Roku OS software update for Roku media players, but it's unclear if all models will be supported. AirPlay 2 will also be supported by Roku-based smart TVs, available from brands such as TCL, Sharp, Hisense, Hitachi, Sanyo, and RCA.

Back in January, Apple announced that select ‌AirPlay‌ 2-enabled smart TVs are coming from leading brands such as Samsung, LG, Vizio, and Sony. ‌AirPlay‌ 2 support on Roku will greatly expand Apple's wireless streaming protocol to virtually any smart TV with a Roku player plugged into the HDMI port.

‌AirPlay‌ 2 will enable Roku users to stream video, audio, photos, and other content directly from an iPhone, iPad, or Mac to their smart TVs.

Apple and Roku are negotiating a launch date and marketing surrounding ‌AirPlay‌ 2. Roku has yet to publicly confirm the plans, with a spokesperson earlier indicating that "we don't have anything to share regarding this now."

Apple today sent out emails letting App Store and iTunes users know about a new promotion that offers a 10 percent bonus when adding funds to an Apple ID account.

When you add money directly to your ‌Apple ID‌ from a credit or debit card for making ‌App Store‌, iTunes, and iCloud purchases, Apple is adding bonus credit.

Apple says the offer is valid on amounts ranging from $1.00 to $200, so customers who add the maximum $200 in funds to their Apple IDs will receive a total of $220 with the bonus ($20 free).

Funds can be added to your ‌Apple ID‌ account by opening up the Settings app, tapping on your account name, selecting the iTunes and ‌App Store‌ option, choosing your ‌Apple ID‌, and then selecting "Add Funds to ‌Apple ID‌."

From there, you can see the promotional bonuses available and choose the amount of money you want to add to your account. You can also get to these options in the iTunes Store by tapping on your ‌Apple ID‌ or in the ‌App Store‌ by scrolling to the bottom (or tapping your profile picture) and selecting the Add Funds option. To use this feature, you will need to have a valid payment method added to your ‌Apple ID‌ account.

The promotion will be available from March 10 through March 14 in the United States, and it is also available in other countries as well, such as Germany, where Apple is offering a 15 percent bonus. No bonus funds are available in the UK, Australia, or Canada, however.

Apple this afternoon shared several new videos that are part of its ongoing iPhone tips series called "iPhone Can Do What?" that was launched earlier this week.

The new videos cover getting help on Apple products using the Apple Support app, unlocking the ‌iPhone‌ with Face ID, accessing boarding passes in the Wallet app, and choosing a new key frame in a Live Photo. There's also a video highlighting the fact that Apple's iPhones are water resistant, which pertains to the ‌iPhone‌ 7 and later.

The seventh-generation iPad that Apple is planning to release alongside an updated iPad mini 5 will continue to use the same housing as the sixth-generation ‌iPad‌, according to Japanese site Mac Otakara.

Prior rumors have suggested the device will feature a 10.2-inch display rather than a 9.7-inch display, but Mac Otakara says that it is hearing mixed rumors from suppliers. One supplier said that the display is "10 inches" but another said that the display size has not been changed.

Regardless of display size, the tablet is expected to continue to use a Touch ID fingerprint sensor rather than transitioning to Face ID like the iPad Pro models, and it will also still have a headphone jack.

Apple is expected to introduce both the updated seventh-generation ‌iPad‌ and a refreshed ‌iPad mini‌ at some point in the spring, perhaps right around the time of its March 25 event. Rumors have said the event will focus on software rather than hardware, but updates could be announced via press release shortly afterwards.

‌Mac Otakara‌ says that it's likely both new iPads will debut at the same time, but the site did not provide any prospective launch timelines beyond mentioning that suppliers are preparing for a launch. Apple's current sixth-generation ‌iPad‌ sells for $329, and the new model is expected to be available at the same price point.

Earlier this week, we asked our readers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to look at some photos taken with the iPhone XS Max and the Samsung Galaxy S10+, Samsung's new flagship device, and tell us which photos they liked best.

There was a catch, though. We didn't tell them which smartphone took which photo, allowing us to aggregate some unbiased opinions on the quality of the images from each device. Today, we're revealing which photos came from which phone and sharing the results we gathered.

The second photo, featuring a person, was also captured with portrait mode. Compared to Photo B, Photo A seems a bit washed out, but A did a better job isolating the subject from the background. MacRumors readers preferred Photo A, and so do we.

The third photo, of a street sign, is a portrait mode photo taken in lower lighting conditions. It was gray and snowy outside, and Camera A took an image that was too cool. Photo A doesn't have any of the sign cut off, but the blueness of the image skewed this heavily in favor of Photo B.

In our fourth image set, of a skyline, Photo B is brighter, but a bit overexposed and washed out. Photo A is darker, but the dynamic range and contrast are more accurate, especially when looking at the clouds. Most people liked Photo B better, but we prefer A because it's not washed out.

Our last images, shared solely on Instagram due to Twitter limitations, demonstrate how well Camera A is able to handle shots of the sky. Photo B's highlights are blown out and Camera B didn't do a great job of capturing the sun. We didn't get a lot of feedback on this image, but we preferred Photo A.

If you guessed that all of the Photo A images came from the ‌iPhone‌ XS Max, you guessed right. Photo A is the ‌iPhone‌ and the Photo B images came from the Galaxy S10+.

Results we received from readers on preference were ultimately mixed, with some of the photos captured by the Galaxy S10+ coming out on top, and some photos captured by the ‌iPhone‌ winning out. That's no surprise, though, as both of these smartphones have great camera systems that can capture some fantastic images.

Apple's ‌iPhone‌ XS Max uses a dual-lens camera system with a 12-megapixel f/1.8 wide-angle lens paired with a 12-megapixel f/2.4 lens, while Samsung uses a more advanced triple-lens camera system (which is, incidentally, rumored to be coming to 2019 iPhones). The Galaxy S10+ has a 12-megapixel f/1.5 wide-angle lens, a 12-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto lens, and an additional 16-megapixel f/2.2 ultra wide-angle lens that can capture more of a scene at once, great for landscapes and group shots.

Both are also great at video and can record in 4K with optical image stabilization offered, though we thought the Galaxy S10+ outperformed the ‌iPhone‌ XS Max because its stabilization was just a bit better.

Overall, we preferred the images from the ‌iPhone‌ XS Max over the images from the Galaxy S10 because the ‌iPhone‌ offered more true-to-life colors, better dynamic range, and superior contrast, but the Galaxy S10+ still took fantastic shots.

Which photos did you prefer? ‌iPhone‌ XS Max or Galaxy S10+? Let us know in the comments.

Qualcomm today told a San Diego jury that it wants Apple to pay $31 million in damages for patent infringement violations, which is allegedly equivalent to $1.40 per infringing iPhone.

The new information comes from CNET, which has been covering the Qualcomm vs. Apple patent trial that's in court this week.

$1.40 per ‌iPhone‌ and a total of $31 million in damages suggests that Qualcomm believes only 22 million iPhones are infringing on its technology. Qualcomm came up with that total with the help of economist Patrick Kennedy, who took the stand as an expert witness for Qualcomm today. Kennedy calculated the figure based on iPhones sold from July 2017 on that used chips by Intel. Apple started using a mix of chips from both Intel and Qualcomm in the ‌iPhone‌ 7, and later transitioned to all Intel chips due to the legal troubles with Qualcomm.

Qualcomm and Apple are fighting over three patents that Qualcomm says Apple infringed on with its iPhones. As CNET describes, one of the patents covers a method for allowing a smartphone to quickly connect to the internet once turned on, while another covers graphics processing and battery life. The third patent Apple is accused of violating allows apps to download data more easily by directing traffic between the apps processor and modem.

Apple just last quarter earned more than $20 billion in profit, so $31 million in damages wouldn't be a hit to the company's bottom line. If Qualcomm wins the trial, though, its claim that its technology is at the "heart of every ‌iPhone‌" would be more credible.

Apple and Qualcomm have been fighting since January 2017, when Apple sued Qualcomm for $1 billion in unpaid royalty fees. Qualcomm countersued, and since then, the two companies have levied multiple lawsuits against one another. Two of Qualcomm's lawsuits have resulted in import bans in Germany and China, both of which Apple was able to skirt with hardware and software updates.

The current patent trial between Apple and Qualcomm will last through next week.

For the last few weeks, Apple has been updating the artwork on playlists within Apple Music, and today, The Verge has shed some light on the reason why with input from Apple's global director of editorial, Rachel Newman.

Apple is using original artwork from well-known artists like the creator of the AC/DC logo for playlists in an effort to bring instant recognition to its content and to better connect with different communities.

That rootedness in specific cultures was something that Apple wanted to emphasize when it was commissioning art. "Suddenly there is really no strong definition of a genre anymore like there used to [be], you know, in the olden days," said Newman, the editorial director. Genre is now, in her words, a melting pot.

For each genre, Apple is choosing "huge name" artists that fit well and have worked within the genre before. Stole "Moab" Stojmenov, who designed the cover for Migos' album "Culture," created the art for Apple's "Hip Hop Hits" playlist, for example.

Carlos Perez, who directed the video for hit song "Despacito," created artwork for several playlists, including "Dale Reggaetón." Perez said that with Apple's freedom, he aimed for authenticity when creating the artwork, which seems to be Apple's goal with the project.

Apple plans to redesign "many thousands" of ‌Apple Music‌ playlists, with new artwork rolling out over the course of the next few months.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is in the running for the 2020 presidential race as a Democratic candidate, today outlined her proposal for "breaking up" tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Facebook in an effort to combat monopolistic behavior (via CNBC). Apple is not directly mentioned in Warren's post on Medium, but a representative from her campaign confirmed the plan would affect Apple.

In essence, Warren wants to make "big, structural changes" to the technology sector in order to promote increased competition. The presidential candidate says that these companies have too much power "over our economy, our society, and our democracy," in the process hurting small businesses and stifling innovation.

To combat this, Warren proposes a path to restoring competition to the tech sector in two major steps. The first is by passing legislation that requires large tech platforms to be designated as "Platform Utilities" and broken apart from any participant on that platform.

This first step is what would directly affect Apple, as the App Store would become a Platform Utility, and any of Apple's first-party apps on it would not be allowed. So, the company would have to choose between running the ‌App Store‌ or building and selling its own apps, according to Warren spokeswoman Saloni Sharma. The same law would hit Amazon on its Marketplace and Google's ad exchange.

Second, the Warren administration would appoint regulators committed to reversing anti-competitive tech mergers. These include "unwinding" mergers like Amazon/Whole Foods/Zappos, Facebook/WhatsApp/Instagram, and Google/Waze/Nest/DoubleClick.

Warren argues that undoing these mergers would promote healthy competition in the market, putting pressure back on big tech companies that would make them more responsive to user concerns, particularly about privacy. "Facebook would face real pressure from Instagram and WhatsApp to improve the user experience and protect our privacy," says Warren.

Toward the end of her blog post, Warren summed up her strategy:

Here’s what won’t change: You’ll still be able to go on Google and search like you do today. You’ll still be able to go on Amazon and find 30 different coffee machines that you can get delivered to your house in two days. You’ll still be able to go on Facebook and see how your old friend from school is doing.

Here’s what will change: Small businesses would have a fair shot to sell their products on Amazon without the fear of Amazon pushing them out of business. Google couldn’t smother competitors by demoting their products on Google Search. Facebook would face real pressure from Instagram and WhatsApp to improve the user experience and protect our privacy. Tech entrepreneurs would have a fighting chance to compete against the tech giants.

Warren is among a dozen Democrats who have announced their runs for the 2020 presidential bid over the past few months, also including senator Kamala Harris, congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, entrepreneur Andrew Yang, governor Jay Inslee, and senator Bernie Sanders. Confirmed Republican candidates running next year include president Donald Trump and former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld.

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.

Spotify today announced that its streaming music service will be preinstalled on the latest Samsung smartphones starting today, including the Galaxy S10, S10+, S10e, S10 5G, Galaxy Fold, and select Galaxy A models. New subscribers on those devices can receive a free six-month Spotify Premium trial in the United States.

The announcement reflects a major extension of a partnership that saw Spotify become Samsung's go-to music service provider in August 2018, a move intended to provide a seamless listening experience across Samsung devices.

Spotify being preinstalled on millions of Samsung smartphones brings it more in line with Apple Music, preinstalled on hundreds of millions of iOS devices. Last month, Spotify announced that it had 96 million paid subscribers as of the end of 2018, easily topping ‌Apple Music‌'s over 50 million subscribers.

We recently put together an Apple Music vs. Spotify guide that compares the two streaming music services.