MacRumors

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) on Wednesday introduced the American Data Dissemination Act, legislation that would require the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to submit detailed recommendations for privacy requirements that Congress can impose on tech companies like Apple, Facebook, Google, and Twitter.

The bill is intended to address the lack of a single, comprehensive federal law regulating the collection and use of personal data in the United States with clear protections that consumers can understand and the FTC can enforce.

Well timed with the news, Apple CEO Tim Cook has penned an op-ed for Time Magazine calling on Congress to pass comprehensive federal privacy legislation in the United States. He also challenges companies to strip identifying information from customer data or avoid collecting it in the first place.

In the op-ed, Cook said he believes "data broker" companies that collect, package, and sell personal information should be required to register with the FTC and provide critical transparency information to the agency, and that consumers should have the power to easily access and delete that data if desired.

"Right now, all of these secondary markets for your information exist in a shadow economy that's largely ­unchecked," wrote Cook.

In 2014, the FTC published a report stating that "data brokers collect and store a vast amount of data on almost every U.S. household." Of the nine data brokers it examined, the FTC said one had a database with "information on 1.4 billion consumer transactions and over 700 billion aggregated data elements."

Cook's full op-ed was provided to MacRumors in advance:

In 2019, it's time to stand up for the right to privacy—yours, mine, all of ours. Consumers shouldn't have to tolerate another year of companies irresponsibly amassing huge user profiles, data breaches that seem out of control and the vanishing ability to control our own digital lives.

This problem is solvable—it isn't too big, too challenging or too late. Innovation, breakthrough ideas and great features can go hand in hand with user privacy—and they must. Realizing technology's potential ­depends on it.

That's why I and others are calling on the U.S. Congress to pass comprehensive federal privacy ­legislation—a landmark package of reforms that protect and empower the consumer. Last year, before a global body of privacy regulators, I laid out four principles that I believe should guide legislation:

First, the right to have personal data minimized. Companies should challenge themselves to strip identifying information from customer data or avoid collecting it in the first place. Second, the right to ­knowledge—to know what data is being collected and why. Third, the right to access. Companies should make it easy for you to access, correct and delete your personal data. And fourth, the right to data security, without which trust is impossible.

But laws alone aren't enough to ensure that individuals can make use of their privacy rights. We also need to give people tools that they can use to take action. To that end, here's an idea that could make a real difference.

One of the biggest challenges in protecting privacy is that many of the violations are invisible. For example, you might have bought a product from an online ­retailer—­something most of us have done. But what the retailer doesn't tell you is that it then turned around and sold or transferred information about your purchase to a "data broker"—a company that exists purely to collect your information, package it, and sell it to yet another buyer.

The trail disappears before you even know there is a trail. Right now, all of these secondary markets for your information exist in a shadow economy that's largely ­unchecked—out of sight of consumers, regulators, and lawmakers.

Let's be clear: you never signed up for that. We think every user should have the chance to say, "Wait a minute. That's my information that you're selling, and I didn't consent."

Meaningful, comprehensive federal privacy legislation should not only aim to put consumers in control of their data, it should also shine a light on actors trafficking in your data behind the scenes. Some state laws are looking to accomplish just that, but right now there is no federal standard protecting Americans from these practices. That's why we believe the Federal Trade Commission should establish a data-­broker clearinghouse, requiring all data brokers to register, enabling consumers to track the transactions that have bundled and sold their data from place to place, and giving users the power to delete their data on demand, freely, easily and online, once and for all.

As this debate kicks off, there will be plenty of proposals and competing interests for policymakers to consider. We cannot lose sight of the most important constituency: individuals trying to win back their right to privacy. Technology has the potential to keep changing the world for the better, but it will never achieve that potential without the full faith and confidence of the people who use it.

Cook's op-ed is consistent with Apple's belief that privacy is a "fundamental human right." Apple aims to "minimize its collection of personal data," according to its privacy website, and stresses that the "the customer is not our product."

Apple emphasized its commitment to privacy with a billboard near CES 2019 that read "what happens on your iPhone, stays on your ‌iPhone‌."

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.

Samsung is planning to announce its new 2019 flagship smartphones on February 20, but ahead of their debut date, benchmarks of the new S10+ model were shared on Slashleaks.

According to the data, Apple's current crop of iPhones, equipped with A12 chips, will outperform the Snapdragon 855 processor in Samsung's smartphone.

The Galaxy S10+, which features 6GB RAM, earned a single-core Geekbench 4 score of 3413 and a multi-core score of 10256.

Comparatively, the A12 Bionic chip in the iPhone XS features a single-core Geekbench score of 4797 and a multi-core score score of 11264.

Apple's A-series chips often outperform the Qualcomm chips that Samsung uses because Apple is designing its chips in house and is able to offer tighter integration between hardware and software. As AnandTech explained in a review of the ‌iPhone‌ XS and XS Max, Apple's chips are also far more efficient:

Overall the new A12 Vortex cores and the architectural improvements on the SoC's memory subsystem give Apple's new piece of silicon a much higher performance advantage than Apple's marketing materials promote. The contrast to the best Android SoCs have to offer is extremely stark - both in terms of performance as well as in power efficiency. Apple's SoCs have better energy efficiency than all recent Android SoCs while having a nearly 2x performance advantage. I wouldn't be surprised that if we were to normalise for energy used, Apple would have a 3x performance efficiency lead.

While benchmarks are often not reflective of real world usage, the data does suggest that Apple's 2018 iPhones will be a good deal faster than Samsung's 2019 smartphones. Given that both the A12 and the Snapdragon 855 are super fast processors able to handle gaming and day to day tasks with ease, Android users won't be at a serious disadvantage.

Since Samsung hasn't released the Galaxy S10+, there's still a chance these details could be off, but it's unlikely since we're quite close to the debut of the device.

Apple plans to cut back on hiring for some divisions of the company after disappointing iPhone sales during the holiday season, reports Bloomberg.

Apple CEO Tim Cook shared the news with employees at an all-hands meeting earlier this month. According to sources in attendance, Cook was asked if Apple would implement a hiring freeze, but he said that he didn't believe that was an ideal solution. Instead, select divisions will see reduced hirings.

Cook at the time said Apple had not yet determined which divisions would cut back on hiring, but groups like the AI team will continue to add employees. Cook also told employees that a division's importance to the future of Apple is not measured through hiring rates.

It's not clear how extensive the hiring reduction will be, but new Apple offices planned in Austin, Texas and Los Angeles, California will not be impacted. In 2018, Apple added 9,000 new employees, and in 2017, Apple added 7,000 new employees. According to a recent SEC filing, Apple employs a total of 132,000 people, including its retail locations.

Apple is expecting revenue of $84 billion for Q1 2019, down from a November estimate of $89 to $93 billion and a $4.3 billion drop from the year-ago quarter.

Cook provided multiple reasons for the drop, including ‌iPhone‌ XS, XS Max and XR launch timing, a strong U.S. dollar, supply constraints, economic weakness and trade tensions in China, and weak ‌iPhone‌ upgrade numbers due to fewer carrier subsidies and low-priced battery replacements.

According to Bloomberg, internally, Apple executives have positioned declining ‌iPhone‌ sales as an opportunity for innovation, and Apple is also planning to bolster its growing services category with third-party integrations and an upcoming streaming TV service.

Following Cook's talk with employees, some Apple senior vice presidents held separate meetings with vice presidents, senior directors and other managers in their groups to emphasize that the iPhone sales slowdown is an opportunity for new innovation, according to one of the people.

In addition to fewer new hires in some divisions, Apple has also cut iPhone XR and XS production by 10 percent due to flagging ‌iPhone‌ sales, and it is encouraging more upgrades by dropping prices in China and offering increased trade-in values in the U.S. and other countries.

Apple's 2019 iPhones could feature upgraded front-facing and rear cameras, redesigned internal layouts, and Lightning ports, according to new details known leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer (aka OnLeaks) shared with Indian site ComparaRaja.

Over the course of the past week, Hemmerstoffer has shown off two possible prototype iPhone designs Apple is allegedly working on, featuring different three camera layouts. Today he's offering up additional information on the cameras we can expect to see in the triple-lens model, which rumors have suggested will be a 6.5-inch OLED ‌iPhone‌ XS Max successor.

Apple will presumably continue using both telephoto and wide-angle lenses, but this information isn't included in the report. The renderings shared by Hemmerstoffer allege that Apple is still trying to decide between a horizontal triple lens camera layout or a square-shaped layout that would position the lenses vertically but staggered.

The front-facing TrueDepth camera system will reportedly use a 10-megapixel camera, up from 7 megapixels in the current version. Prior rumors and renderings have suggested the TrueDepth camera will take up less space on the ‌iPhone‌'s display thanks to optimizations, allowing Apple to implement a smaller notch.

Internally, the 2019 ‌iPhone‌ with a triple-lens camera is said to have a redesigned internal layout with a "less L-shaped battery" that's "almost a big square" with the "logic board located above the battery."

All of the information from Hemmerstoffer is sourced from these two alleged prototype iPhones that he says are "still in the EVT stage" and have yet to be finalized, so it's not clear yet if this information is accurate.

None of these details have been confirmed by a second source at this point in time either, so we'll need to wait for further leaks to get a clearer picture of the features included in the 2019 ‌iPhone‌ lineup.

Apple yesterday debuted new Smart Battery Cases for the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR, and review units are in the hands of members of the media and some lucky people who received early deliveries.

Many ‌iPhone‌ X users have been wondering if the ‌iPhone‌ XS Smart Battery Case will work with the older model given that the two devices are nearly identical in design, and the answer appears to be yes, though there is some uncertainty.

This morning, iMore's Rene Ritchie put an ‌iPhone‌ X running iOS 12.1.2 in an ‌iPhone‌ XS ‌Smart Battery Case‌ and received an error suggesting the ‌iPhone‌ X was not compatible with the case.

He updated the ‌iPhone‌ X to iOS 12.1.3, however, and was able to get the ‌iPhone‌ X to charge in the ‌iPhone‌ XS ‌Smart Battery Case‌. He also now says that the ‌iPhone‌ X will charge with the Battery Case if the incompatibility popup is dismissed.

It is worth noting that while the ‌iPhone‌ X may charge in the ‌iPhone‌ XS Battery Case, the fit is imprecise. The speaker and microphone holes do not line up, and the camera cutout is a bit off.

Apple's Smart Battery Cases for the ‌iPhone‌ XS, XS Max, (and presumably XR), feature 10.1Whr batteries that extend the life of each ‌iPhone‌.

The ‌iPhone‌ XS Max normally offers up to 25 hours talk time, 15 hours of internet use, and 15 hours of video playback, which is extended to 37 hours of talk time, 20 hours of internet, and 25 hours of video playback with the ‌Smart Battery Case‌.

The ‌iPhone‌ XS alone features up to 20 hours of talk time, 12 hours of internet use, and 14 hours of video playback, which is extended to 33 hours of talk time, 21 hours of internet use, and 25 hours of video playback with the ‌Smart Battery Case‌.

The ‌iPhone‌ XR features up to 25 hours of talk time, 15 hours of internet use, and 16 hours of video playback, which is extended to 39 hours of talk time, 22 hours of internet use, and 27 hours of video playback.

The Smart Battery Cases are priced at $129 and can be purchased from the Apple website.

Well-known producer, writer, and show creator Jason Katims has departed Universal TV after inking a multi-year deal with Apple, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Under the exclusive deal, which kicks off this summer, Katims will create content for Apple under his True Jack Productions banner.

Katims has been responsible for many high-profile television shows, including "Parenthood," "Friday Night Lights," "Roswell," "Rise," and "About a Boy."

He will continue to work on "Away" and "Sisters," two projects that he has in the works with Universal TV, but future content will be exclusive to Apple.

Katims is rejoining Michelle Lee, who formerly served as head of development at True Jack before moving on to Apple's creative development team.

Apple has signed deals with multiple high-profile figures and companies in the TV industry for its upcoming streaming service. Apple is partnering with film studio A24, Oprah, and Sesame Workshop.

The company also already has multiple television shows in the works, with a full list available in our Apple TV roundup.

While reports today suggested that Apple's new Smart Battery Cases for the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max have lower battery capacities than previous versions for iPhone 6 and ‌iPhone‌ 7 models, it turns out the new cases actually have larger capacities than the old ones when taking voltage into consideration.

The new ‌iPhone‌ XS and ‌iPhone‌ XS Max cases are rated at 1,369 mAh, lower than the ‌iPhone‌ 6/6s case at 1,877 mAh and iPhone 7 case at 2,365 mAh, but according to Rene Ritchie, there are actually two such cells in the case.

As a result, the new cases run at a higher voltage that yields a total of 10.1 Wh of energy compared to 7.13 Wh for the ‌iPhone‌ 6/6s case and 8.98 Wh for the ‌iPhone‌ 7 case.

Of course, real-world testing will prove more valuable than tech specs, so we'll see how the new cases truly stack up in the coming days.

Apple introduced Smart Battery Cases for the ‌iPhone‌ XS, ‌iPhone‌ XS Max, and ‌iPhone‌ XR yesterday. All three are priced at $129 in the United States, with deliveries and in-store availability slated to begin this week. Apple says the cases are not compatible with the iPhone X, but results have varied so far.

Apple is in talks with at least three private Medicare plans in regards to subsidizing the Apple Watch for people over the age of 65. The news comes from a report today by CNBC, citing sources familiar with Apple's plans.

The discussions are centered around subsidizing the cost of an Apple Watch Series 3 or Series 4 -- which currently start at $279 for the Series 3 38mm Aluminum version -- for older Medicare users who can't afford the cost of the device. Series 4 models would be most beneficial for elderly users, thanks to the new fall detection and ECG features.

Apple's talks with the Medicare companies have not resulted in any official deals yet. The Cupertino company has paid visits to several large insurers in the market, as well as some smaller Medicare Advantage plans, but no specific names of the insurers were given.

“Avoiding one emergency room visit would more than pay for the device,” said Bob Sheehy, CEO of Bright Health, an insurance start-up with a Medicare Advantage plan and the former CEO of United Healthcare.

Apple Watch has been associated with insurance coverage a few times in the past, including discounted versions of the wearable offered to Aetna insurance customers. Apple's device was also integrated into the United Healthcare wellness program, providing participants access to an Apple Watch that they could use to earn up to $1,000 in incentives per year by meeting daily walking goals.

As discovered by MacRumors tipster Sri Ram and others on Twitter, Apple has referenced its long-awaited AirPower charging mat in the product description for its new iPhone XS Smart Battery Case in Malaysia.

Apple released Smart Battery Cases for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR on Tuesday following several rumors.

The listing remains live as of Wednesday morning, noting that the ‌Smart Battery Case‌ is "compatible with AirPower Wireless Charging Mat and other Qi‑certified chargers." The case's description in the United States and other countries we checked only mentions compatibility with Qi-certified chargers.

Apple failed to deliver on its promise of releasing the AirPower in 2018, but a report over the weekend suggested that Apple suppliers Luxshare Precision and Pegatron have or will soon start mass production of the AirPower, with an alleged supply chain source saying it will be released soon.

For the sake of covering all bases, there is a possibility the report about mass production was inaccurate and that Apple prepared the ‌Smart Battery Case‌ product description before abandoning its ‌AirPower‌ plans, but simply forgot to scrub the word ‌AirPower‌ from a single product description in a few countries.

‌AirPower‌ is not mentioned on any other ‌Smart Battery Case‌ product pages in Malaysia, the United States, or other countries we checked.

Back in October, however, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the ‌AirPower‌ may be released by the early first quarter of 2019, while developer Steve Troughton-Smith recently said he has heard Apple may have overcome technical challenges with the ‌AirPower‌ and could presumably move forward with a release.

Apple has not commented on the ‌AirPower‌ in several months and removed all but a few mentions of the mat from its website following its September 2018 event. ‌AirPower‌ is, however, still referenced in the latest iPhone user guides, in some recent Apple job listings, and in a few recent Apple patent applications.

‌AirPower‌ would be able to inductively charge multiple Apple devices at once, including the ‌iPhone‌ 8 and newer, Apple Watch Series 3 and newer, and AirPods placed in an as-of-yet unreleased charging case listed as "currently unavailable." Apple unveiled the accessory at its September 2017 event alongside the ‌iPhone‌ X.

Update: ‌AirPower‌ does not appear to be referenced in the ‌iPhone‌ XS ‌Smart Battery Case‌ user guide, according to Rene Ritchie.

Update 2: Apple has now removed the ‌AirPower‌ reference from the Malaysian page.

Apple today released new Smart Battery Cases designed for its 2018 iPhone lineup, including the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR.

Available in black or white, each Smart Battery Case is priced at $129 and is designed to add extra battery life to the iPhone. The cases are similar in design to the past battery case option Apple offered for the iPhone 7, with a bump at the back to house a battery pack.

Each case provides a varying amount of battery life depending on device. The iPhone XS Battery Case, when paired with the iPhone XS, offers up to 33 hours of talk time, up to 21 hours of internet use, and up to 25 hours of video playback.

The iPhone XS Max with the XS Max Smart Battery Case offers up to 37 hours of talk time, up to 20 hours of internet use, and up to 25 hours of video playback.

The iPhone XR with the XR Battery Case offers up to 39 hours of talk time, up to 22 hours of internet use, and up to 27 hours of video playback.

Apple has not offered a Smart Battery Case option for the iPhone since the introduction of the iPhone 7, presumably due to the wireless charging feature in the iPhone 8, iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR. There has also never been a battery case for larger iPhones, with prior cases limited to the iPhone 6/6s and iPhone 7.

Rumors in December, however, suggested that a version compatible with Qi-wireless charging was in the works, and Apple's product listings confirm that the new Smart Battery Cases are indeed compatible with Qi-certified wireless chargers.

As with the previous versions of the Smart Battery Case, the new options provide an intelligent battery status on the iPhone's Lock screen and in Notification Center so you're aware of the remaining charge of the device.

The cases charge wirelessly as mentioned above or via Lightning and Apple says faster charging is available using USB-PD compatible chargers. Lightning accessories, like the EarPods with Lightning Connector, are also compatible.