MacRumors

Apple supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has announced today that its founder and chairman Morris Chang will be stepping down from all leadership positions effective June 2018, immediately following the annual shareholders meeting taking place that month (via DigiTimes and Reuters).

Following Chang, TSMC will fall under the dual leadership of Mark Liu and C.C. Wei, with the former executive taking on the chairman of the board position and the latter becoming sole CEO of the company. Chang mentioned personal and family reasons for his retirement, and assured investors that the transfer of leadership would not change TSMC in any way, looking back on his time at the company, which he founded in 1987.

Chang is now 86, and has earned a status as the father of Taiwan's chip industry.

Chang added, "The past 30-odd years, during which I founded and devoted myself to TSMC, have been an extraordinarily exciting and happy phase of my life. Now, I want to reserve my remaining years for myself and my family. Mark and CC have been Co-CEO's of the company since 2013, and have performed outstandingly. After my retirement, with the continued supervision and support of an essentially unchanged board, and under the dual leadership of Mark and CC, I am confident that TSMC will continue to perform exceptionally."

The plan of succession is said to have been in the works "for years," with Liu starting as a senior vice president for operations at TSMC and Wei as SVP for business development. Eventually, the two SVPs were promoted to chief operating officers in 2012, and then climbed to each gain a co-CEO status in 2013. Analysts looking at the situation see the two new leaders keeping TSMC's status quo on track "for some years."

“I think Liu and Wei will continue TSMC’s current model for some years,” said Mark Li, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. “I do see the increasing cost of newer generation technologies as an issue but for now TSMC will still maintain the cadence of R&D development.”

But if something new comes up, such as uses of new technology that increases TSMC’s cost, they’ll need to change their plan accordingly, Li said.

One of TSMC's biggest customers is Apple, and the supplier has been connected with Apple's iPhones and iPads since 2011, when reports first began coming out that Apple was looking into diversifying its supply chain. Samsung was the sole supplier of the A5 chip -- which was found in 2011 devices like the iPad 2 and iPhone 4s -- but due to patent-based legal disputes and Samsung's rise as a competitor in the mobile device market, Apple began looking towards other chipmakers from which it could source its A-series chips.

TSMC eventually entered trial production on chips in the A5 and A6 range, but didn't officially make it into production on A-series chips until the A8 in 2014, on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Apple has still sourced some A-series generations from Samsung, most notably -- and infamously -- looking to increase volume for the iPhone 6s launch in 2015 by dual-sourcing chips from both Samsung and TSMC for the A9.

Since then, TSMC was the sole supplier of the A10 chip for the iPhone 7 family in 2016, as well as for the A11 chips in the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and upcoming iPhone X. Still, rumors persist that Liu and Wei will face increased competition from Samsung in the chip fabrication space. The TSMC rival is planning to "triple the market share of its contract chip manufacturing business within the next five years by aggressively adding clients," potentially including a return to its previous status as an A-series supplier for Apple, although some analysts disagree.

Read more MacRumors coverage of TSMC over the years:

• Rumored A10 Production Win for TSMC Could Be Tied to Device Packaging Advances
  

• How TSMC Won Back Exclusivity With Apple for the A10 Chip in iPhone 7
  

• Apple's Chip Partner TSMC Shares Details on 7nm Node and Advanced InFO Package Process for 2018
  

Simultaneously, TSMC is gearing up to build the world's first 3-nanometer chip production plant in Tainan Science Park in southern Taiwan, marking at least one upcoming TSMC plant that will remain in Taiwan and not be built in the United States (via EE Times). The 3nm production sees TSMC preparing for the release of products far down the line; currently the supplier uses a 10nm FinFET process, with 7nm planned for 2018 and 5nm and 3nm gearing up "as early as 2022."

Safeway has announced that it is in the process of rolling out Apple Pay throughout October in the United States.

The grocery store chain shared the news through its Twitter account in response to a customer inquiry on Sunday.

Safeway has 912 grocery stores in the United States, with over 500 along the West Coast in California, Oregon, and Washington. The tweet did not specify which locations will begin accepting Apple Pay this month.

It's important to note that customer service representatives can sometimes be misinformed, so the tweet may be inaccurate.

Yesterday, however, a Reddit user said his local Safeway had just enabled contactless payments. He tried Apple Pay and said it worked.

MacRumors has reached out to Safeway for confirmation, including participating locations, and we'll update this article if we hear back.

Last month, grocery store chain ALDI announced it now accepts Apple Pay at all of its nearly 1,700 locations across the United States.

Some other grocery stores that accept Apple Pay in the country include select Giant Food, Wegmans, BI-LO, Food Lion, Save Mart, Shop 'n Save, Trader Joe's, Winn-Dixie, Whole Foods Market, and United Supermarkets locations.

Taiwanese movie "The Great Buddha+", a dark comedy shot extensively on an iPhone 6 Plus, has picked up ten nominations in the Golden Horse Awards, including best feature film and best new director (via Variety).

Directed by Huang Hsin-yao and produced and lensed by acclaimed photographer Chung Mung-hong, the black-and-white film follows the voyeuristic antics of a pair of small-town Taiwanese nobodies, highlighting Taiwanese social issues in the process.

The Golden Horse Awards, which will be announced on November 25 in Taipei, are often considered one of the most prestigious film awards for Mandarin-language cinema, with movies from Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong regularly vying for honors.

In the running for the best film prize this year are "The Great Buddha+", "The Bold, The Corrupt, and The Beautiful", "Free and Easy", "Love Education", and "Angels Wear White", which played recently in Venice and Toronto.

Upstream suppliers are expected to see strong growth in wearable product operations in the fourth quarter of this year thanks to rising sales of Apple's AirPods and Apple Watch range, according to sources in the supply chain (via DigiTimes).

Quanta, Iventec, Universal Scientific Industrial (USI), as well as Foxconn subsidiaries Shunshin Tech and Luxshare-ICT are all expected to benefit from increased sales in Q4 2017, as Apple achieves supply/demand balance for its AirPods and consumer interest in the latest Apple Watch models increases into the holiday season.

Quanta and USI have been long-term supply-chain partners of the Apple Watch series and are expected to see a significant revenue contribution from the orders, while Shunsin has just recently joined the supply chain to provide SiP services and will begin processing related orders in February or March 2018, the sources noted.

As for the AirPods, the sources pointed out that the shortages have already eased and Apple has also increased its orders for the device.

Inventec is the manufacturer of the AirPods, while the device's proprietary W1 chip that allows seamless pairing is supplied by Luxshare-ICT. In addition to the orders, Luxshare-ICT also supplies connectors, cables and antennas for Mac and iPhone products.

AirPods now ship from the online Apple Store in just three to five business days in the United States, Canada, U.K., Australia, and several other countries around the world. Prior to August, the popular earphones had been in extremely short supply, with a typical wait time of six weeks from order to delivery.

Meanwhile, Apple has been getting backordered Apple Watch Series 3 LTE models out quicker than expected, with several customers who expected their devices in mid-October already receiving shipment confirmations.

All Apple Watch Series 3 models with LTE connectivity list shipment dates of at least three to four weeks when purchased online in the United States, and availability is similarly limited in other countries, but indications are that the wait could in fact be shorter. Non-LTE Series 3 Apple Watch models are readily available in stores and will ship out right away, while Nike+ models won't start arriving to customers until Thursday, October 5.

The FBI doesn't have to identify the company it contracted to unlock an iPhone used by one of the shooters in the 2015 California terror attack that killed 14 people, a federal judge ruled on Saturday (via Politico).

Three news organizations – USA Today, Associated Press, and Vice Media – sued the FBI last year under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to try to force the agency to reveal the name of the company and the amount it was paid to unlock the device.

In the original complaint, the news organizations argued that the public had a right to know how the government spent taxpayer funds in the case. They also claimed the existence of a flaw in the iPhone could be a danger to the public. However, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled this weekend that the information is exempt from mandatory disclosure under the government transparency law.

In her ruling, released Saturday night, Chutkan said the identity of the firm that managed to unlock the iPhone and the price it was paid to do so are classified national security secrets and constitute intelligence sources or methods that can also be withheld on that basis. She also ruled that the amount paid for the hack reflects a confidential law enforcement technique or procedure that is exempt from disclosure under FOIA.

A battle between Apple and the FBI began in early 2016 when Apple refused to help the government unlock shooter Syed Farook's iPhone 5c under the belief that it could set a bad precedent for security and privacy. The FBI didn't know what was on the device at the time, but believed that any information gathered could potentially help move the case of the San Bernardino attack forward in meaningful ways.

To break into Farook's iPhone 5c, the FBI later employed the help of "professional hackers" and reportedly paid upwards of $1.3 million for a tool exploiting a security vulnerability, a figure arrived at based on comments made by then-FBI director James Comey. The agency said it was not able to share with Apple the hacking methods used because it did not own the rights to the relevant technical details regarding the purchased technique.

The FBI has said the method used to break into the iPhone 5c does not work on the iPhone 5s and later, but it can be used to access iPhone 5c devices running iOS 9. It later revealed after the hack that nothing on the phone relevant to the investigation was found.

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.

Sphero, known for its line of robotic balls and droids, today launched the $50 Sphero Mini, the company's most affordable toy yet.

Sphero Mini measures in at about 1.25 inches, making it similar in size to a ping pong ball. It's essentially a tiny version of the original Sphero robotic ball, and it's controlled the same way -- through an app on your iPhone.

The Sphero Mini connects to an iPhone using Bluetooth and can be used for playing games, learning to code, playing with pets, and more, thanks to a built-in gyroscope, accelerometer, and LED light.

Sphero has designed a series of games that use the Mini as a controller mechanism, and with a future update, it will be programmable using the Sphero Edu app. Unique to the Mini is a Face Drive app feature that lets it be controlled via head movements and facial expressions.

Sphero Mini can glow in millions of colors with the LED lights, and it has a range of 10 meters. The battery in the Sphero Mini lasts for 45 minutes before needing to be recharged, and charging takes an hour. There are also interchangeable shells in a range of colors that can be purchased for the Mini, as well as a pins and cones accessory pack.

Sphero Mini can be purchased from the Sphero website for $49.99.

It's been another busy week in the world of iOS gaming, so let's hop right into it: As usual, we've had our eyes closely on the "Updates" page of the App Store looking for 32-bit favorites to reemerge as 64-bit titles. The Mikey Shorts Trilogy, the majority of the Radiangames library, and Dragon Fantasy all finally made their way to 64-bit.

Any of these games are effortless recommendations, particularly as they're from the good ol' days of the App Store before freemium shenanigans took over. Dragon Fantasy is particularly good if you're looking for a modern spin on retro RPGs. It hit the App Store back in 2011 and since has been ported to Vita, 3DS, Android, and PC.

The most unexpected surprise of the week, without question, was Annapurna dropping Flower onto the App Store. It's by Thatgamecompany, who is also responsible for the upcoming game Sky that was teased back at the iPhone reveal keynote. One of the main reasons we're super excited for Flower to hit the App Store is what it means for speculating on what other games of theirs might come in the future as it seems like the sky is the limit. I'd love it if Journey eventually made its way to iOS.

Modern Combat Versus also hit the App Store, which thematically speaking is the complete polar opposite of blowing petals around on the wind in Flower. Versus is an online team-based multiplayer shooter, set in a futuristic and gritty military environment.

Gameplay is sort of similar to titles like Overwatch or Team Fortress 2, but it's on your iPhone. It has a Clash Royale-ish chest unlocking system to divvy out loot, and we're really curious to get deeper into the game to see how much or how little these freemium shenanigans impact overall balance if you don't empty your wallet.

Super Mario Run got a huge update, which not only comes packed with loads of new content, but the whole game unlock is on sale for $4.99, down from its original $9.99. Super Mario Run was pretty controversial in the TouchArcade community when it was first released as it wasn't seen as a "real" Mario game, but given the constraints of virtual controls I think it's definitely worth trying out if you still haven't yet, regardless of whether or not you end up paying for it.

This week Blizard released the Blizzard Battle.net app, which basically just serves as a chat client for Battle.net. One thing I hadn't realized which came out when we published this story is just how many people had Hearthstone on their phones specifically to communicate to their Blizzard game friends, even if they don't play Hearthstone. If that describes you, well, you can now save gigs of space on your phone by deleting Hearthstone. (But, really, Hearthstone is great and you should really play it instead of deleting it.)

In other Blizzard news, rumors are flying surrounding a new mobile game that Blizzard is working on. A job posting recently appeared (which is now removed) where Blizzard was searching for a Unity mobile engineer to work on a unannounced "MMO RTS project." Whether this is going to be an adaptation of their existing IP, or like Overwatch, a totally new Blizzard IP is totally up in the air. Given how well Hearthstone has done, it seems supremely inevitable that Blizzard will release something else on mobile though, whatever it turns out to be.

Limbo has been on the App Store for ages now, but Playdead just announced plans to bring its PC and console game Inside to both iOS and Switch. There isn't a ton to go off of here aside from a vague announcement, but both Limbo and Inside have massive fan followings so we're going to be watching this one closely.

Last, but not least, is a teaser for an upcoming puzzle game called Campfire Cooking. I absolutely love how developers on the App Store continue to find new ways to reinvent grid-based puzzles, and in this one you're moving food around a grid that represents a campfire. Check out the trailer — it's super clever, as "fire and food management" isn't something I think I'd ever thought of for a puzzle game.

Those are the big stories this week, but as usual, if you're into these sort of things be sure to head over to TouchArcade where we post this kind of stuff day in and day out.

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with MyMe Unity to give MacRumors readers a chance to win one of the company's Unity case systems with a Unity Case for your iPhone, a Cradle to use as an accompanying stand, and a matching cable for charging.

The Unity Case offers dual-layer protection with an inner silicone case and an outer shell, for superior impact resistance. It comes in a range of stylish two-tone color options, has a raised bezel for screen and camera protection, and it ships with a screen protector for the display for complete device safety.

A strong magnet is built into the center of the Unity Case's outer shell, allowing it to attach to metal surfaces like a refrigerator. It ships with two Metal Mounting Plates that can be placed anywhere in your house or car to mount your phone for hands-free access.

The Unity Case is priced at $25 and is available for the iPhone 5 and later, and the cases for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus also work with the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus. It's not clear, though, if these interfere with wireless charging.

In addition to attaching to anything metal, the Unity Case pairs with the Unity Smart Cradle, which attaches to the case with a metal ball joint that allows the case to be positioned in any orientation and at several angles.

The Cradle, priced at $12-$24, comes in a range of colors and styles to match the cases and it can be placed on flat surfaces or surfaces like car windshields and mirrors. There are also Cradle and Unity Case bundles available for $35, a discounted bundle price.

MyMe Unity also offers a $20 5-ft tangle-free magnetic Lightning cable that goes along with the whole Unity setup. It has a magnet at the top to allow it to attach to the cradle when not in use, keeping it within reach at all times.

The whole Case, Cradle, and Cable setup costs about $60, making it more affordable than some standalone case and mount options. We have 10 Case, Cradle, and Cable bundles to give away to MacRumors readers. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winner and send the prize. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years of age or older are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.

The contest will run from today (September 29) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on October 6. The winners will be chosen randomly on October 6 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.

Nanoleaf, the company behind the HomeKit-enabled Aurora smart modular lighting system, recently introduced a $49 accessory that allows the Aurora lights to respond to music, adding a whole new sound-based dimension to an already great product.

Called the Nanoleaf Aurora Rhythm, the add-on module is a small three-triangle accessory that snaps right in to an existing Nanoleaf setup using the same plastic connector tabs that connect the Aurora lights together.

It can be plugged in to any of the triangle-shaped lights in an Aurora setup, because all of them are able to provide power to the accessory. Setting up the Rhythm is as simple as attaching it to an Aurora setup -- there are no other steps involved.

➜ Click here to read more...

Best Buy today launched a new two day sale that will run through tomorrow, September 30, and grants customers free shipping on orders $35 and over as well as fast one-hour in-store pickup on most items. As usual, Best Buy has a variety of Apple products discounted, including iMacs and iPad Pros from late 2015, and the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Below we'll list all of the Apple devices with markdowns in Best Buy's sale, as well as some notable deals on other products.

iMacs From Late 2015

• 21.5-inch, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB HD - $949.99, down from $1,299
• 21.5-inch 4K, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB HD - $1,099.99, down from $1,499.99
• 27-inch 5K, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB HD - $1,299.99, down from $1,799.99
• 27-inch 5K, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB Fusion Drive - $1,499.99, down from $1,999.99
• 27-inch 5K, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 2TB Fusion Drive - $1,749.99, down from $2,299.99

The only iPad models on sale are the 32GB models of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro from late 2015, which is available for $549.99, down from $799.99. The sale is for Wi-Fi only models available in Silver, Space Gray, and Gold. For the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus deal, you can get $150 off Apple's smartphones from 2016 when buying and activating either device on a monthly installment plan. Only the (PRODUCT)RED color is available in 128GB.

Best Buy's sale also has deals on numerous TVs, including a few 4K sets that will work with the new Apple TV 4K. There are three Samsung sets on sale, starting with the company's 55-inch LED Curved 4K Ultra HD Smart TV for $749.99, down from $899.99, then rising to the 65-inch LED Curved 4K Ultra HD Smart TV with High Dynamic Range for $1,599.99, down from $2,399.99. Brands like Sharp, Vizio, and LG all have 4K TV sets on sale today and tomorrow as well, with screen dimensions increasing to 75 inches.

Discounts ending tomorrow also encompass Bragi's The Dash headphones, Bluetooth speakers from Sony and harmon/kardon, and more, so be sure to check out our Deals Roundup for more information before the two day sale finishes.

In other deals-related reminders, Rogue Amoeba's 15th anniversary sale ends tomorrow, September 30; MacRumors readers can continue to get 15 percent off RAVPower's Qi Wireless Charger on Amazon through October 15; and our exclusive $308 discount off SOUND FORGE Pro Mac 3 continues through October 13. You also still have a few hours to enter our weekly giveaway for a Pad & Quill leather case for the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, or X, ending today at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy and may earn commissions on purchases made through these links.