MacRumors

An upcoming version of the AirPods charging case will be able to wirelessly charge a compatible iPhone, according to Nikkei Asian Review, although proceed with skepticism, as there's a good chance the report is off the mark.

The first paragraph from Cheng Ting-Fang and Lauly Li, in a report titled "Apple to unveil iPhone wireless charging with AirPods":

Users of iPhones will soon be able to wirelessly charge their handsets using the charging case for Apple's popular AirPods wireless earphones, according to an industry source familiar with the plan.

The report claims the charging case could be available as soon as the end of this year, although the timeframe is subject to change.

The report adds:

The development would add to Apple's much-anticipated AirPower wireless charging mat, unveiled last year and due out soon, bringing chief designer Jony Ive's call in 2016 for a "truly wireless future" a step closer. Apple has previously said it is working on a wireless charging case for AirPods that could also be topped up with the AirPower pad, though it gave no further details.

It's not entirely clear if the report is referring to the same AirPods charging case that Apple previewed alongside the iPhone X last year. Apple said that optional accessory will be released in 2018 alongside its AirPower charging mat.

All in all, it's a rather strange report that inspires a lot of questions. Would a user hold or lay their iPhone against the AirPods charging case? The case's current floss-container-like design means that the iPhone would need to be precisely balanced on top of it, if not held together in your hands.

In addition, the AirPods case is and will likely remain too small to adequately charge the latest iPhones. The battery in the current case has a capacity of 398 mAh, roughly 14.6 percent of the iPhone X's battery capacity of 2,716 mAh, limiting its usefulness to emergency or must-have situations.

Is the report backwards? Is it possible some iPhones will be able to wirelessly transfer power to the AirPods charging case on the go? Or, more likely, is the report simply mistranslating the fact that the latest iPhones and the AirPods charging case will be compatible with the AirPower charging mat?

At this point, all we know for certain is that Apple will release both its AirPower charging mat and optional AirPods charging case later this year. According to the reliable Mark Gurman, Apple is aiming to release the AirPower by September, so there's a good chance it'll launch alongside the next iPhones.

Apple CEO Tim Cook this evening sat down for an interview with Fortune's Adam Lashinsky to discuss education, privacy, human rights, and immigration, and to explain why Apple takes a strong stance on these topics.

According to Cook, Apple has always been about "changing the world" and that's not something that can happen "when you stay quiet," but there are no specific guidelines that Apple follows when deciding to speak out.

We've always been about changing the world and it became clear to me some number of years ago that you don't do that by staying quiet on things that matter. For us, that's been the driving issue. There's no formula for when you speak and when you don't. The way I think about it... is it something Apple has a special expertise on? I don't want Apple to be another talking head. We should only speak when we have specific knowledge to bring to the subject.

Do we have standing? Do we have a right to talk about this issue? It's not enough to be a large company to speak. I think about that, and so what that means for us is that we typically speak about education, privacy, human rights, immigration, and the environment because there's something we have where we can bring a point of view -- it may be discounted and most people may view it to be incorrect -- but nevertheless it is a point of view we can share.

Cook went on to say that he doesn't think businesses should deal only in commercial things. "Business to me is nothing more than a collection of people and if people have values -- and I argue we should -- then by extension companies should have values." Companies should speak out after evaluating whether or not a subject is a core value, says Cook.

Ask yourself -- is it a core value of your company? [...] If something happens that isn't consistent with those, then I think you need to speak. Think about if you don't -- then you're in the appalling silence of good people category and this is something I've never wanted to be a part of.

Apple has spoken out on immigration specifically because Apple employs many immigrants. "We've got over 300 folks here on DACA," Cook said. "I want to stand up for them." Apple also has several thousand people that are on H1B visas who may be in "the deep green card back log," which Cook says gives Apple a unique perspective to share on the topic. "There are real people behind this that have real feelings," he explained.

As for diversity, Apple "has a lot of different people from a lot of different places" and is "accepting of people everywhere" which has led Cook to believe that the company has something unique to offer in conversations about diversity, which is also tied to the company's views on human rights and one of the reasons why Cook spoke out on recent U.S. immigration policy that saw children separated from their parents, which he called "inhumane." "Ultimately, that is what human rights are, treating people with dignity and respect," he told Lashinsky.

While Apple is quick to speak out on policies surrounding immigration, diversity, human rights, and similar topics, Cook clarified that Apple does not "get into politics."

We just stick to the policy. If you do that, most people will respect that. Even when people disagree, they will respect that that's what you're doing.

In response to people who think companies should stick to making good products and making good money rather than, Cook said he doesn't believe the majority of people want that. Apple, he reiterated, does not get into politics -- it's about policy.

Apple doesn't give one dollar to political campaigns. We discuss privacy policy, we discuss immigration policy, we discuss corporate tax reform, the policies around tax reform. I think most people look at that and say that makes sense. [...]

The CEO of Apple is never going to fulfill the mission of changing the world in today's environment by doing that. You're not going to be able to do all that you can by staying quiet.

On the topic of privacy, Cook said that Apple's view on privacy started from its values and then its business model was built to live up to those values.

We felt strongly about privacy when no one cared. We could not see the specific details, but we could see that the building of the detailed profile of people likely would result in significant harm over time. That it could be used for too many nefarious things. We think that people in today's environment don't have a full view of who has what and how much of their lives has been opened to commercial entities and public entities.

Cook discussed Apple's newly announced decision to add a curated Midterm Election section to the Apple News app. Cook said Apple has always believed in curation, pointing towards the App Store. "We felt like this is our store and it says something about us as to what's in there," he said. "And so we've done that from day one and we've taken that same view to news."

Apple added a news section because "news is going kind of crazy." It doesn't mean, however, that people who use an iPhone have to rely on Apple News, because users can "get content from anywhere else" if they "don't like it."

Cook says that Apple wants to make sure people are reading content that's not created "strictly with the goal of enraging people." The company wants to focus on "content that has a reason to be out there," with news to be sourced from conservative outlets, liberal outlets, and "in between if there is such a thing anymore." Cook says the 2018 Midterm Election section of Apple News will include a spectrum of content from a variety of sources with no specific political agenda.

There were also some questions relating to the new Screen Time feature in iOS 12, and Cook says Apple never wanted people to overuse its products. For him, Screen Time has caused to cut down on iPhone usage, specifically when it comes to notifications, because the number of notifications he was receiving was "crazy." "We want everyone to have this information," he said. "And then you can do what you want with it."

The final topic of discussion was on long term vs. short term investments, and Cook said that Apple often makes investments that are 7 to 10 years out. If he was "king for a day," 90 day earnings reports "would be flushed" because they're a "remnant of a different day and time." Cook said that as a CEO, when it comes to dealing with the board on short term performance, "you have to look yourself in the mirror and say I'm going to take the heat."

The interview wrapped up with Lashinsky asking Cook how long he planned to be CEO, with his seventh anniversary approaching. "It is the privilege of a lifetime to be at Apple and to lead the company and hopefully I've got some good time left," answered Cook.

Cook's full interview may be made available by Fortune at a later date, and if that's the case, we'll update this post with a link so that it can be watched in its entirety.

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 this afternoon released the first public beta of iOS 12 to its public beta testing group, giving non-developers a chance to test the software ahead of its upcoming fall release. The first public beta of iOS 12 should correspond to the second developer beta, which was released last week.

Beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program will receive the iOS 12 beta update over-the-air after installing the proper certificate on an iOS device.

Those who want to join the beta testing program can sign up on Apple's beta testing website, which gives users access to iOS, macOS, and tvOS betas. Before installing a beta, make sure to create a full encrypted iTunes backup or an iCloud backup and be sure to install iOS 12 on a secondary device because beta software is not always stable and can include bugs.

iOS 12 is a significant update to the iOS operating system, introducing Group FaceTime, local multiplayer shared AR experiences, new Animoji, and a Memoji feature that's designed to let you create a personalized Animoji that looks just like you.

Siri has been improved in iOS 12 with Siri Shortcuts, which is designed to allow Siri to work with any app, and Siri is also smarter and able to provide info on motorsports, food, and celebrities.

Under-the-hood improvements to iOS 12 will make everyday tasks on the iPhone and iPad faster and more responsive, with the camera launching up to 70 percent faster and the keyboard showing up to 50 percent faster.

iOS 12 will be available to developers and public beta testers as a beta for several months to allow Apple to work out kinks and bugs. The update will see a launch this fall.

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming iOS 11.4.1 update to developers and public beta testers, one week after seeding the third beta and a month after releasing iOS 11.4, an update that introduced AirPlay 2 and Messages in iCloud.

Registered developers can download the new iOS 11.4.1 beta from Apple's Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center. Public beta testers can also install the update over-the-air with the public beta profile.

No new features were discovered in the first three iOS 11.4.1 betas, suggesting it focuses on bug fixes and performance improvements to address issues discovered since the release of iOS 11.4.

We'll update this post should we discover any new features in the fourth iOS 11.4.1 beta, but we're not expecting major changes now that Apple has shifted its focus to iOS 12, which is also available to developers for beta testing purposes.

Members of the Information Technology Industry Council plan to meet this Wednesday, June 27 in San Francisco to discuss "how to tackle growing questions and concerns about consumer privacy online."

The news comes from Axios, and members of ITI in attendance will reportedly include Apple, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, Dropbox, and more -- although specific attendees have not been confirmed by the organization.

ITI has organized all-day meetings that will focus on topics about online privacy in the wake of Europe's General Data Protection Regulation and the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica data scandal.

ITI CEO Dean Garfield told Axios that tech companies are aware there's a "new sense of urgency around consumer privacy." The organization also said that the new meet-up of tech leaders is "not a direct result" of alleged conversations brewing within the Trump administration about a U.S. "counter-weight" to Europe's GDPR.

"Just because Europe has taken a comprehensive approach doesn't mean our different approach is deficient," Garfield said. "And just because Europe is early doesn't mean it's best or final. But we should always be thinking about how we evolve to make sure consumers have trust in our products."

In that report last week, Trump advisor Gail Slater was said to have discussed a U.S. version of GDPR with Garfield, although Slater stated the White House has no desire to create a "U.S. clone" of Europe's rules. Slater claimed that "giving consumers more control over their data" and "more access to their data" are high marks of the GDPR, suggesting these aspects would be emphasized in the U.S. law if it ever comes to pass.

While lawmakers and advocacy groups discuss online customer privacy, individual companies have promised some form of enhanced user privacy on a global scale in the wake of GDPR. For Apple, the company launched a new Data & Privacy website that lets users download all of the data associated with their Apple ID. Prior to GDPR, last September Apple revamped its privacy website so that its various policies could be more accessible and easy-to-read for its customers.

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.

Following a few years of anecdotal complaints, and no less than three lawsuits, Apple on Friday initiated a new worldwide service program offering free repairs of MacBook and MacBook models equipped with low-profile, butterfly mechanism keyboards, which have been a source of frustration for some customers.

We've already reported about the service program in more detail, but the gist is that Apple and Apple Authorized Service Providers are now offering free repairs of affected 2015-and-later MacBook and 2016-and-later MacBook Pro models with sticky, unresponsive, or inconsistently functioning keys.

Many questions have arisen since the program was announced, so we wanted to consolidate some additional information that we have gathered from Apple and other sources we have spoken with:

• Apple distributed an internal document on Friday with more information about the service program. It notes that keyboards damaged due to attempted repair are still eligible for free service under the program. If your MacBook or MacBook Pro has physical top case damage unrelated to the keyboard, it also remains eligible.
  

• As to be expected, if your MacBook or MacBook Pro keyboard has liquid damage, it is ineligible for the program.
  

• If a key press is not recognized, key presses feel abnormal or sticky, or keys are loose or missing, Apple has instructed its authorized service providers to clean or replace the affected keycaps if possible.
  

• Keycap replacement kits are available for English keyboards in ANSI and ISO layouts, along with British, French, German, Danish, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Chinese, and Japanese keyboards.
  

• If characters are repeating, or previous keycap replacements were ineffective, Apple has instructed its authorized service providers to replace the whole keyboard, which requires replacing the whole top case, including the trackpad and speaker grilles.
  

• Be prepared to go a week-plus without your MacBook. Apple quotes a turnaround time of five to seven business days for service to be completed at Apple's off-site repair centers, but wait times may increase as an influx of customers take advantage of the program.
  

• In some cases, the Apple Store may be able to offer on-site service, but expect to wait for at least a few hours.
  

• If your MacBook or MacBook Pro experiences keyboard issues after being serviced under the program, Apple says customers can bring their unit back in to be looked at again. This suggests, but doesn't explicitly state, that the program may be used more than once.
  

• Apple is offering refunds to customers who paid to have an eligible keyboard repaired prior to this program, but a Genius has advised us that refunds are not available in person at an Apple Store, and must be requested by contacting Apple Support by phone, online chat, or email.
  

• It's still not entirely clear if the replacement keyboards have been slightly revised to address the issues that prompted the service program in the first place. Apple has been fairly communicative with me about this program, but has so far skipped right over this question when asked.
  

• We do know that Apple has been replacing 2016 MacBook Pro keyboards with the 2017 version, which has slightly different markings on the Control and Option keys, but a Genius we spoke with believes the 2016 and 2017 keyboards are functionally equivalent.
  

• iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens also told me he believes the keyboard design hasn't changed at all in a few years.
  

• However, anecdotal reports from customers suggest the 2017 MacBook Pro keyboard "has a different feel to it," with some calling it "better" and less prone to issues. Marco Arment, for example, said it is "more 'damped' in both feel and sound, as if there's more rubber somewhere."

We'll share any further information as we come across it. In the meantime, if you are experiencing keyboard issues, read our article on How to Get a MacBook or MacBook Pro Keyboard Repaired Free Under Apple's Service Program.

Remember to back up your Mac before sending it in for service.