MacRumors

"It's not true that the iPhone is not made in the United States," Apple CEO Tim Cook said this morning in an interview with Recode's Kara Swisher and MSNBC's Chris Hayes in a response to criticism about its ties to China and other countries.

"We have always made the parts here," Cook said. "People just look at where the final product is assembled." In a global world, he explained, manufacturing and assembly needs to be done in a variety of places.

As Cook has said multiple times in the past, key iPhone components are manufactured in the United States. Display glass for the iPhone and iPad, made by U.S. manufacturer Corning, comes from Kentucky. The Face ID module for the iPhone X comes from Texas. Various chips for Apple devices are also built in the United States, according to Cook, as is equipment for manufacturing the iPhone.

Components manufactured in the U.S. are shipped abroad, with devices assembled by suppliers like Foxconn and Pegatron in China.

Cook said "political pressure" doesn't push Apple to add U.S. jobs, as it's something the company is already doing. As Cook often says, Apple could "only have been created in the United States," and Apple wants to give back. "Businesses should be more than just building revenues and profits," Cook said. "They should be building people."

"We know that Apple could only have been created in the United States. We know that. This company would not have flourished in any other country in the world. We love this country. We are patriots. This is our country and we want to create as many jobs as we can in the U.S. We don't need any political pressure for that."

Apple in January outlined a five-year plan to contribute $350 billion to the U.S. economy through job creation, existing investments and manufacturing, and new investments. Apple has established an Advanced Manufacturing Fund, for example, to invest in U.S. manufacturing. Apple has thus far invested $200 million in Corning and $390 million in Finisar.

On the topic of job creation and automation, Cook said that it's important to "get comfortable" with "the notion that education is lifelong." Jobs, he says, will be "cannibalized over time and replaced by others." Continuously learning is important, which is why Apple puts such a focus on teaching students of all ages to code. "The jobs of tomorrow are heavily software based," he said.

"There's an element of what each of us do, which will be automated over time. That's not bad. But we need to think about training for the jobs for tomorrow, which will be software-based."

He said he does not believe the narrative around "doom and gloom" is correct, but he does believe government and businesses need to work together on job retraining and creation for industries that are being automated. "We should not all sit around waiting for government to tell us what to do," he said.

Tim Cook's full interview will air on MSNBC on Friday, April 6 at 5:00 p.m. in a segment titled "Revolution: Apple Changing the World."

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 released the long-awaited iOS 11.3 update, but it appears the software is only available for download on the sixth-generation iPad, which was announced yesterday at an education event in Chicago.

The sixth-generation iPad went on sale yesterday, but the first orders won't be delivered until later this week and the device is not yet in stores.

Customers with the new iPad can download iOS 11.3 over-the-air using the Settings app. To access the update, go to Settings --> General --> Software Update.

iOS 11.3 introduces a long list of new features, such as Messages on iCloud for storing your iMessages in iCloud to save valuable on-device storage space.

The update also introduces ARKit 1.5, a new version of ARKit that allows developers to do more with augmented reality apps, and it includes a "Battery Health" feature designed to provide iOS users with more information about their batteries.

Other new features include new review sorting options in the App Store, software authentication for HomeKit devices, Business Chat for contacting businesses using iMessage, and more.

It's not clear why Apple has released iOS 11.3 for the new iPad and not for any other devices, but the surprise launch suggests the release of iOS 11.3 for other Apple products is imminent and could perhaps come later this week.

"I wouldn't be in this situation" Apple CEO Tim Cook told Recode's Kara Swisher in an interview where he was asked what he would do right now if he was Mark Zuckerberg.

Cook went on to say that Facebook should have self regulated to prevent the massive data collection scandal it's now embroiled in, but the time for that has passed. "I do think that it is time for a set of people to think deeply about what can be done here."

It's clear to me that something, some large profound change is needed... I'm personally not a big fan of regulation because sometimes regulation can have unexpected consequences to it, however I think this certain situation is so dire and has become so large, that probably some well-crafted regulation is necessary.

Cook made the comments calling for regulation in a wide-ranging discussion with Swisher and MSNBC's Chris Hayes, covering topics from privacy to DACA to education, where he also again pointed out Apple's strong stance on privacy.

As Cook has said many times in the past, "you" are not Apple's product and Apple does not make its money selling customer data. Cook says Apple sees privacy as a "human right, a civil liberty."

We could make a ton of money if we monetized our customers. If our customers were our product. We've elected not to do that. ...We're not going to traffic in your personal life.

Curation is important to Apple, and that's one of the ways Cook believes Facebook went wrong. "We curate," he said. "We don't want porn on our App Store. We don't want hate speech on our App Store."

Apple, he says, looks at every app in detail. "Is it doing what it is saying it is doing?"

Cook also offered up some advice on how people can protect their privacy. He recommends people read and understand the privacy policy of every app and website frequented, use private browsing mode, and think about blocking cookies. "The only way to protect your data is to encrypt," he added.

Like many of us, Cook says he "finds it creepy" when he looks at something and it chases him "all across the web," something Apple has actively started blocking with cross-site tracking prevention tools in macOS High Sierra and iOS 11. "I don't like that," he said.

Cook was interviewed at the Lane Tech College Prep High School where Apple held its educational event earlier this week. The CEO's full interview will air on Friday, April 6 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time or 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on MSNBC.

Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down for an interview with Recode's Kara Swisher and MSNBC's Chris Hayes at Lane Tech College Prep today. The same high school hosted Apple's education-themed event on Tuesday.

The full interview will be part of a TV special titled Revolution: Apple Changing the World that will air Friday, April 6 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on MSNBC. However, reporters in attendance have shared highlights from the discussion on Twitter.

Education

Cook started by sharing his view that "education is the great equalizer of people." He said "if you look at many of the issues in society today, you can find the root in people who don't have access to quality education today."

"We all have to get comfortable with notion that education is lifelong. Jobs will be cannibalized over time and replaced by others."

While he believes that technology plays a key role in modern education, Cook noted that Apple doesn't believe technology can replace teachers. "Our products are tools," he said. "They help people — not replace people."

"Teachers want to have technology to deliver their lessons. Most all teachers want a level of coding for their classes," said Cook.

On the subject of Apple's new entry-level iPad, $299 with education pricing, Cook said that price point becomes "a very reasonable expenditure" since students, teachers, and school districts "don't have to buy a new iPad every year."

Coding

"I want America to be strong, first and foremost. And one base for that is that everyone needs to learn to code. Coding is a way to express yourself. It's a language," said Cook. "It's not our expectation that everyone becomes a software programmer. But it's important that people learn the basics," he added.

"We need to get more people interested in coding. We have to reach out to women and unrepresented minorities that have been too low in coding."

United States and Jobs

"We know that Apple could only have been created in the United States," proclaimed Cook. "This company would not have flourished in any other country in the world. This is our country and we want to create as many jobs as we can in the United States. We don't need any political pressure for that."

While the iPhone is assembled in Asia, Cook said that many parts are manufactured in the United States, like the display glass from Corning in Kentucky.

On the subject of job retraining, Cook said "we should not all sit around waiting for government to tell us what to do." He added that "this should be something that government and business are working together on."

Cook emphasized the importance of lifelong education and job retraining given that robots will replace humans for certain tasks. "There's an element of what each of us do, which will be automated over time. That's not bad. But we need to think about training for the jobs for tomorrow, which will be software-based."

Immigration and DACA

"The DACA situation is one that I am personally, as an American, deeply offended by," said Cook, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy that ended March 5, but is currently upheld by the Supreme Court. "The DACA situation is not an immigration issue. It's a moral issue."

"I don't see this as a partisan issue. This is about America—it's that simple. I am very disappointed with both parties … I'm personally lobbying Congress."

Privacy and Facebook Scandal

Earlier this month, The Guardian revealed that data firm Cambridge Analytica amassed data on 50 million Facebook users without their consent and targeted messages to voters during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Cook, who previously called the situation "dire," expanded on his thoughts about the matter today.

"What would I do? I wouldn't be in this situation," said Cook, responding to a question about what he would do if he were Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

"We curate," he elaborated, referring to the App Store's review process. "We don't want porn on our App Store. We don't want hate speech on our App Store. We don't want the ability to recruit terrorists on our App Store. We're looking at every app in detail. Is it doing what it is saying it is doing?"

"The truth is, we could make a ton of money if the customer was our product," as is arguably the case for companies like Facebook and Google. "We've elected not to do that," said Cook, touting Apple's privacy measures.

Cook thinks it's "creepy" when he looks at something and it "chases him all the way across the web," like targeted ads. "We're not going to traffic in your personal life. I think it is an invasion of privacy. Privacy to us is a human right. It's a civil liberty and it's something that is unique to America."

In terms of how users can protect their privacy, Cook said the only way to protect data is to encrypt it. "If I were you, I wouldn't do business with a company that isn't doing that," he said. "I would make sure I understood the privacy policy of every app and every website you frequent. I would go into private browsing mode. I would think about blocking cookies."

Amazon HQ2

On the subject of Apple's planned new campus somewhere in the United States, Cook said "we're not doing a beauty contest thing—that's not Apple," which appears to be a slight dig at Amazon's HQ2 search. "It sets up a win lose situation and that's not something I want Apple to be a part of," he explained.

We'll have more coverage of Cook's interview when Revolution: Apple Changing the World airs on MSNBC next Friday.

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 it will establish a Center for Excellence at Lane Tech College Prep in Chicago, which will serve as a hub for teachers at Chicago Public Schools to learn and subsequently teach Apple's Everyone Can Code curriculum.

Apple is developing the hub in partnership with Northwestern University, whose professors will lead the sessions. Teachers will gain expertise in Everyone Can Code, a free program designed to help students learn how to code, and they'll also have the opportunity to be trained on App Development with Swift.

In addition to the free professional learning sessions, Apple says educators will also have access to in-school coaching and mentorship opportunities to ensure they are comfortable teaching the complete Everyone Can Code curriculum. Apple will outfit the Center for Excellence with iPads, Macs, and accessories.

Apple CEO Tim Cook:

Teachers make a world of difference in their students' lives, and we owe so much of our own success to their creativity, hard work and dedication. At Apple, we believe every student should have the opportunity to learn to code and we are thrilled to help provide new learning opportunities for Chicago-area teachers so they can bring coding into their classrooms.

David Figlio, Dean of Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy:

We strive to bring Northwestern's research, teaching, and service missions together in our local communities to make lives better in our hometowns of Chicago, Evanston and beyond. By collaborating with visionary companies like Apple and the education experts in the Chicago Public Schools, we have the chance to do something transformative for Chicago and the world.

This effort is an extension of an existing collaboration between Apple and Chicago to bring coding opportunities to the city's nearly 500,000 students through a citywide expansion of Everyone Can Code.

Apple hosted an education-themed event at Lane Tech College Prep on Tuesday, where it introduced a new 9.7-inch iPad with Apple Pencil support, a new Schoolwork app for teachers and students, and more.

Apple held its first event of 2018 this morning in Chicago, Illinois, at the Lane Tech College Prep High School. The event's unusual location was due to the fact that it focused on education, marking Apple's first education-oriented event since 2012.

The main draw of the event was a new low-cost iPad with Apple Pencil support, but Apple also announced several other education-focused initiatives for teachers and students. The full event spanned over an hour, but we've recapped everything that's worth knowing in the three minute video below.

Apple didn't live stream the event this morning, but after it was finished, the company shared a full video, so if you want to watch it from start to finish, you can do so on Apple's Events website or through the Events app on the Apple TV.

There were also a few other unannounced surprises that popped up on Apple's site after the event, like new iPhone and iPad cases, new Apple Watch bands, and a Space Gray Magic Keyboard, Trackpad, and Mouse, which were previously exclusive to the iMac Pro.

As with all Apple events, MacRumors provided a live blog and extensive coverage, all of which is listed below so you can catch up if you missed anything:

Hardware

• Apple Launches New 9.7-Inch iPad With Apple Pencil Support, $299 for Schools and $329 for Consumers
• Logitech Announces $49 Crayon Stylus and $99 Rugged Combo 2 Case for 9.7-Inch iPad
• New Logitech Crayon is Compatible Only With Sixth-Generation iPad
• Apple Now Selling Standalone Space Gray Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse 2, and Magic Trackpad 2
• New 9.7-Inch iPad Hands-On: 'Very Familiar' Update Benefits From Apple Pencil Support and A10 Fusion Chip
• Apple Debuts New iPhone and iPad Cases, Launches New Apple Watch Bands
• AppleCare+ Price Reduced to $69 for 9.7-Inch iPad and iPad Mini Models

Software

• Apple Updating iWork for iOS: Pages, Numbers and Keynote Get Book Creation and Apple Pencil Support on 9.7-Inch iPad
• Apple Announces 'Classroom' Coming to Mac, Reveals New 'Schoolwork' App for Educators
• Apple Increases Free iCloud Storage for Students to 200GB
• Apple Announces Free 'Everyone Can Create' Curriculum for Teachers
• Apple Updates Clips and GarageBand on iOS With New Educational Features
• iWork Apps for Mac and iOS Updated With New Features, Apple Pencil Support on iPad

We'll be sharing additional details on the new iPad with Apple Pencil support throughout this week and next, so make sure to stay tuned to MacRumors. For more details about the new iPad, make sure to check out our iPad roundup, which will be updated later today.

In addition to our standalone articles covering the latest news and rumors at MacRumors, this Quick Takes column provides a bite-sized recap of other headlines about Apple and its competitors on weekdays.

Today's edition of Quick Takes focuses on tidbits from Apple's education-themed event at Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago today. For bigger news from the event, we've put together a roundup of links and a video that recaps everything that Apple announced on stage in under three minutes.

Tuesday, March 27

• Apple confirms there will be an iOS 11.4 software update: It will be the first point-four version since iOS 8.4 was released with Apple Music in June 2015. iOS 11.3 remains in beta testing, so we're likely a few months away from the public release of iOS 11.4.

  From the Introducing ClassKit for Education Apps entry in the News and Updates section of Apple's Developer Program website:

  The ClassKit framework, coming in iOS 11.4, works with a powerful new iPad app called Schoolwork that helps teachers and students keep track of assignments and progress. With ClassKit, you can help teachers easily discover specific learning activities in your app, take students directly to the right activity with a single tap, and securely and privately share progress data to help teachers personalize instruction.

• Apple Watch's trade-up program expands: The program is now available online or at Apple Stores in Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and select other countries. Trade-in values for the original Apple Watch, Series 1, and Series 2 models vary.
  
  

• Apple Pencil is now available for $89 with education pricing in the United States: The $10 discount is available to students, educators, and select faculty members. Proof of enrollment or employment at a K-12 or higher-education institution may be required.
  

• Apple has further discounted the price of refurbished 2017 iPad models: On the heels of introducing the sixth-generation 9.7-inch iPad, Apple has lowered the prices of refurbished fifth-generation 9.7-inch iPad models, originally released in March 2017.

  In the United States, for example, a Wi-Fi model with 128GB of storage is available for $309, down from $359 previously and 28 percent off the original $429 price for the equivalent brand new model. Just keep in mind that fifth-generation iPads lack Apple Pencil support.
  

• iBooks Author is not being retired: Apple's app for creating iBooks on Mac will remain in development, according to iMore's Serenity Caldwell. In a tweet, she said Pages is not a replacement for iBooks Author, despite the app receiving updates related to creating e-books earlier today.

  OKAY, getting some clarifications on iBooks Author and Pages. Bear with me. iBooks Author is NOT being sunset. It’s continuing development. This Pages update is not a replacement. Instead, this is just bringing Pages’s ePub 3 features and export to iPad, with new templates. — Serenity Caldwell @🍎👩🏻‍🏫 (@settern) March 27, 2018

  
  

• Apple shares environmental report for the new sixth-generation iPad

For more coverage of Apple's event, visit our Front Page, Mac Blog, and iOS Blog. Also visit our forums to join in the discussion.

Apple Watch Series 4 models set to be released this fall will feature a new design and a display that's 15 percent larger, according to predictions shared by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in a new note that was sent out to investors this morning (via 9to5Mac).

In addition to a new design with larger displays, the new fourth-generation Apple Watch models will feature a longer battery life enabled through more battery capacity and improved health monitoring capabilities. The display size of the watch could increase due to smaller bezels, and it's not quite clear what impact a larger display would have on physical device size.

The Apple Watch's design has remained unchanged since the first-generation Apple Watch was introduced in 2015, so a redesign three years later in 2018 would make sense.

Kuo also does not go into detail about what new health monitoring capabilities the fourth-generation Apple Watch might offer. Rumors have suggested Apple is exploring a sensor that would allow for continuous electrocardiograph monitoring to better detect serious heart conditions.

Apple is also pursuing a method for non-invasively monitoring blood glucose levels, but that technology seems to be a bit away and may not make it into a 2018 Apple Watch update.

Ming-Chi Kuo often shares accurate predictions about Apple's plans, so it's likely we can expect to see some kind of Apple Watch redesign this year. We'll be hearing more about Apple's plans as the watch's likely September release date gets closer.