MacRumors

Apple today launched a new iTunes Movies sale centering around 4K HDR bundles, allowing Apple TV 4K owners to further expand -- or start -- their 4K film collections at a cheaper price. The bundles are divided up by studios and further split into four main genre categories under each studio: Action and Adventure, Comedy, Drama, and Sci-Fi and Fantasy.

Most of the bundles are $19.99 for three movies, although some rise to $22.99 and $24.99 depending on the studio. For the most part, sale prices haven't hit the SD versions of each collection, with some SD price tags still as much as double the price of the 4K versions of each bundle. Below we've listed each collection and the movies you will find in each:

Warner Brothers
- Action and Adventure ($19.99): The Accountant, Argo, Into the Storm
- Comedy ($19.99): Central Intelligence, CHiPs, Get Hard
- Drama ($19.99): Sully, Collateral Beauty, Live By Night
- Sci-Fi and Fantasy ($19.99): Blade Runner (The Final Cut), I Am Legend, Jupiter Ascending

Sony Pictures
- Action and Adventure ($19.99): Bad Boys, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Professional
- Comedy ($19.99): Ghostbusters (1984), Rough Night, Sausage Party
- Drama ($19.99): The Bridge On the River Kwai, Concussion, Inferno
- Sci-Fi and Fantasy ($22.99): Starship Troopers, Life, Passengers (2016)

20th Century Fox
- Action and Adventure ($24.99): Independence Day, Hitman: Agent 47, Assassin's Creed
- Comedy ($24.99): Keeping Up With the Joneses, Snatched, Spy
- Drama ($24.99): Life of Pi, The Martian, The Revenant

Universal Studios
- Action and Adventure ($24.99): Lone Survivor, Everest (2015), The Great Wall
- Sci-Fi and Fantasy ($24.99): Warcraft, Snow White and the Huntsman (Extended Edition), King Kong (2005)

Lionsgate
- Action and Adventure ($24.99): John Wick, The Hunger Games, Saban's Power Rangers

For the new sale, Apple said: "We're so excited about movies in 4K HDR on Apple TV 4K that we want to help kick-start your collections. Explore a variety of specialty priced bundles,divided by studio and genre, and start building your library in this amazing picture quality today."

iTunes Movies sales are frequent around the holidays, and there are also a few Christmas-themed movies in 4K being discounted right now, like Home Alone, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Holiday ($9.99 each). You can visit iTunes Movies on macOS or iOS and the new 4K HDR collections should start appearing on the store's carousel today.

SplashData today published its annual list of the worst passwords of the year, using data pulled from over five million passwords that were leaked across 2017 by hackers.

Despite many well-publicized major data leaks in 2016 and 2017, many people continue to use weak passwords that are easily guessed. "123456" and "Password," for example, were the two most popular passwords SplashData came across, as they have been for several years running.

Other passwords in the top 10 of the worst passwords list included "12345678," "qwerty," "12345," "123456789," "letmein," "1234567," "football," and "iloveyou." "Monkey," "123123," and "starwars" also made the list this year, as new easily guessable passwords people have adopted. Passwords made up of a single word or consecutive number string are dangerous because they're so easy to guess.

"Unfortunately, while the newest episode may be a fantastic addition to the Star Wars franchise, 'starwars' is a dangerous password to use," said Morgan Slain, CEO of SplashData, Inc. "Hackers are using common terms from pop culture and sports to break into accounts online because they know many people are using those easy-to-remember words."

With data breaches from major companies so common, a strong password that consists of multiple random words or multiple numbers, letters, and characters is essential, and it's also important not to use the same password for more than one account.

Safari has built-in password generating features, and passwords can also be stored in the Keychain and accessed on all of your iOS and Mac devices. Password management apps like 1Password, LastPass, or SplashID can also make remembering and managing multiple passwords simple.

SplashData publishes its annual list to encourage people to use stronger passwords. This year, the company's data came primarily from North America and Western Europe, culled from data leaks. Yahoo data and data from adult websites was not included.

In 2017, there were several major data leaks from companies that included Verizon, Saks Fifth Avenue, Deloitte, and Uber, along with a huge Equifax breach that exposed the personal information of millions of people.

Apple will release an upgraded version of AirPods in the second half of 2018, according to KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

An excerpt from Kuo's latest research note, a copy of which was obtained by MacRumors:

Media reports over the past few days on brisk AirPods demand and Apple struggling to keep up with holiday season demand align with our findings and positive predictions on AirPods in several previous reports. […]

In 2018, we predict AirPods shipments will grow 100% YoY to 26-28mn units. We forecast the ASP of RFPCB for upgraded AirPods in 2H18 may increase, further benefiting business momentum of Unitech and Compeq.

Kuo said one internal change on the second-generation AirPods will include a "smaller quartz component," but he didn't provide any further details about new outward-facing features or improvements to expect.

Kuo said the new AirPods will continue to be assembled by Taiwanese manufacturer Inventec, with individual components supplied by fellow Taiwanese companies such as Unitech, Compeq, TXC, and HLJ.

Apple will also be releasing a new inductive AirPods charging case that will enable the wireless earphones to be charged with its new AirPower charging mat, which it said launches at some point in 2018.

Apple teased the AirPower mat at its iPhone X event back in September. It will be able to charge the Apple Watch Series 3, an iPhone X or iPhone 8 model, and AirPods inside the new charging case simultaneously.

As for the current AirPods, Kuo said Apple's suppliers are unable to make them quick enough to fully satisfy what he believes is robust holiday season demand, which likely explains why AirPods are sold out until January.

Kuo, who keeps a close eye on Apple's supply chain in Asia, said Apple has recruited Luxshare to help make AirPods, but RF printed-circuit boards for AirPods batteries are proving to be a key production bottleneck.

Kuo also reiterated his estimate that AirPods shipments will double in 2018 to 26-28 million units on a year-over-year basis, suggesting Apple will have sold around 13-14 million AirPods worldwide by the end of this year.

Today marks the fourth anniversary of Apple last updating the Mac Pro.

The second-generation Mac Pro was released on December 19, 2013 for $2,999 and up, and it remains the current model despite having at least four year old hardware.

That hardware includes up to a 12-core Intel Xeon E5 processor, 64GB of ECC RAM, 1TB of SSD storage, and dual AMD FirePro D700 GPUs, with prices topping out at $6,999.

The lack of a Mac Pro refresh in several years generated concerns that Apple was less focused on professional users, eventually prompting the company to respond.

Specifically, in April, Apple took the rare step of revealing it is working on an all-new Mac Pro with a modular design, while a high-end iMac Pro was released earlier this month.

Apple briefly reiterated that promise at the bottom of its press release about iMac Pro availability last week, noting that the new Mac Pro will be not only upgradeable, but also a high-performance, high-throughput system.

In addition to the new iMac Pro, Apple is working on a completely redesigned, next-generation Mac Pro architected for pro customers who need the highest performance, high-throughput system in a modular, upgradeable design, as well as a new high-end pro display.

Apple hasn't provided any additional details, including tech specs or a release date, but fingers are crossed for a 2018 launch. As we discussed in our story last week, Apple could return to a similar design as the 2006 to 2012 tower Mac Pro, but its exact definition of modular remains to be seen.

Apple still hasn't provided any word about when if ever we can expect a new Mac mini, which hasn't been updated in over 1,150 days, according to the MacRumors Buyer's Guide. The current Mac mini launched in October 2014.

When the Apple Watch Series 3 first launched, carriers in the United States and other countries where the LTE version of the device is available offered three free months of service and waived activation fees.

That fee-free grace period is coming to an end, and customers are getting their first bills that include the $10 per month service charge.

If you have an Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE functionality, you've probably already learned that $10 is not all it's going to cost per month. On carriers like AT&T and Verizon, there are additional service charges and fees, which means it's not $10 per month for an Apple Watch, it's more like $12-$14.

On Verizon in California, for example, there's an additional $1.55 in fees on top of the $10 per month charge.

On AT&T in North Carolina, fees and surcharges add an additional $4.39 to the $10 per month charge, bringing the total to almost $15 per month for an Apple Watch. In some states, these fees on Verizon and AT&T are even higher.

If you're planning to avoid fees by deactivating service and activating again when it's needed, that may not be the best plan of action. As Macworld's Michael Simon points out, line activation fees that come with reactivation can be hefty.

Though the Apple Watch Series 3 is linked to the cellular number of the iPhone on a given carrier, it requires adding an additional line to a cellular service account. When you cancel and re-add a line, there's an activation fee involved. On Verizon, for example, if you deactivate the Apple Watch Series 3 and then want to activate it again at a later date, there's a $25 charge. Suspending service doesn't work, as it requires a $10/month fee, aside from a one-time 30 day free suspension on Verizon. From Macworld:

Because Apple Watch uses NumberShare on Verizon, it's not considered a month-to-month or prepaid device, so it's not so easy to skip a month of service. According to the Verizon representative I spoke to, I have two options:

- Suspend my Apple Watch service for up to 90 days at a time. This will cost me $10 a month, so that's not really an option.

- De-activate the watch completely. That will wipe it from my account and bill. However, I will need to pay a $25 activation fee once I decide to reinstate service. That's a recurring change. That means Verizon will essentially charge me for two and half months service every time I turn it off and on again.

Like Verizon, AT&T charges $25, while Sprint charges $30. T-Mobile no longer charges activation fees, so it may be more affordable to cancel and reinstate service if you're a T-Mobile subscriber.

On AT&T and Verizon, though, that $25 re-activation fee is the cost of two months of service, or close to it, when taxes and fees are included, meaning it's not really worthwhile to start and stop service if you're going to do it more than once or twice a year.

Macworld was also told that if he stopped and started service he could run into problems when attempting to reactivate the watch, but it's not entirely clear why.

With the three-month grace period, most Apple Watch owners have likely learned whether or not the $10-$15 per month fees are worth the freedom of an always-on wrist-worn cellular connection. Neither Apple nor the carriers in the United States were fully upfront about the additional service fees and taxes and the hassle involved with deactivation/reactivation, though, so there are bound to be some users who will feel tricked when the first full Series 3 bill comes in.

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 update to developers, one week after seeding the first beta and almost two weeks after releasing macOS High Sierra 10.13.2, the second major update to the macOS High Sierra operating system.

The macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 beta can be downloaded from the Apple Developer Center or through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store with the proper profile installed.

It's not yet clear what improvements the third update to macOS High Sierra will bring, but it's likely to include bug fixes and performance improvements for issues that weren't addressed in macOS High Sierra 10.13.2.

No major outward-facing changes were discovered in the first beta of macOS High Sierra 10.13.3, but we'll update this post should new features be found in the second beta.

The previous macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 update focused solely on security fixes and performance improvements, with no new features introduced.

Primate Labs founder John Poole has plotted the kernel density of Geekbench 4 scores for iPhone 6s models running iOS 10.2, iOS 10.2.1, and iOS 11.2, visualizing an apparent link between lower performance and degraded battery health.

The charts show that on iOS 10.2, the vast majority of iPhone 6s devices benchmarked similarly in performance. However, Poole explains that the distribution of iPhone 6s scores for iOS 10.2.1 appears multimodal, with one large peak around the average and several smaller peaks around lower scores.

In other words, after iOS 10.2.1 was released last January, the performance of a percentage of iPhone 6s devices began to suffer.

In a statement, Apple said it made improvements in iOS 10.2.1 to reduce occurrences of unexpected iPhone shutdowns that a small number of users were experiencing. The shutdowns were reportedly caused by uneven power delivery from older batteries, which could cause an emergency shutdown of the devices.

While at least one report suggested that Apple tweaked its power management system in iPhone 6s devices, the company never disclosed what specific improvements it made to reduce the unexpected shutdowns.

A recent Reddit discussion, however, has reignited speculation that Apple is intentionally slowing down older iPhones to maximize power efficiency and stability when battery capacity has degraded, and reduce voltage-related shutdowns, and the Geekbench charts and Poole himself lend credit to that theory being true.

"The difference between iOS 10.2 and 10.2.1 is too abrupt to be just a function of battery condition," he said. "I believe … that Apple introduced a change to limit performance when battery condition decreases past a certain point."

The charts show that the number of iPhone 6s devices with lower Geekbench scores was even more pronounced on iOS 11.2, which is likely because the software update is around one year newer, which means that the battery capacity of many iPhone 6s devices has likely continued to deplete as expected.

Interestingly, even the iPhone 7 may be starting to be affected. While the distribution of Geekbench scores for the device on iOS 10.2, iOS 10.2.1, and iOS 11.1.2 appear identical, the results change with iOS 11.2 and start to resemble the iPhone 6s' degraded performance starting on iOS 10.2.1.

What this all means is that Apple may be intentionally slowing down older iPhones to maximize power efficiency and stability when battery capacity has degraded, as speculated, seemingly without publicly acknowledging so.

It's important to remember that all lithium-ion batteries naturally lose some of their ability to hold a charge over the course of a few years. Given the iPhone 6s was released in September 2015, the device has been available long enough that some users should consider replacing their battery regardless.

Apple charges an out-of-warranty fee of $79 to replace the battery of all eligible iPhone models in the United States. iPhone 6s users can contact AppleCare or schedule a Genius Bar appointment at a local Apple Store using the Apple Support app.

Apple did not immediately respond to our request for comment about the Geekbench findings. We'll update this article if we hear back.

iPhone X shipping estimates continue to improve, with the flagship smartphone now available with free next-day delivery from Apple's online store if ordered by 3:00 p.m. local time today in the United States.

Apple quotes delivery by tomorrow for all iPhone X models except the silver SIM-free version with 64GB of storage, which is estimated for delivery within 2-4 days. This means every iPhone X is still a last-minute gift option.

Apple is also offering next-day delivery of all iPhone X models on its online store in the United Kingdom, and in some other countries, shipping estimates are short enough that delivery before Christmas may still be possible.

With next-day delivery now available, it would appear that Apple has achieved supply-demand balance of the iPhone X, at least for now.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said improved iPhone X shipping estimates are the result of better-than-expected production, rather than weak demand. He originally predicted the iPhone X would likely remain in short supply until 2018.

Just hours after iPhone X pre-orders began in late October, Apple issued a statement to MacRumors indicating that customer demand was "off the charts."

We'll have to wait until Apple releases its next quarterly earnings results to analyze just how well the iPhone X has sold, but Apple's revenue guidance of $84-$87 billion suggests the smartphone's sales will be very strong.

iPhone X shipping estimates were initially pushed back to 5-6 weeks, but gradually shortened to just a few days by last week.

Apple always offers free next-day delivery of in-stock iPhone models, and it has extended the deal to all in-stock items ordered from its online store by 3 p.m. local time on Friday, December 22 in the United States.

Less-expensive gift ideas for an Apple fan available by Christmas include the Apple TV 4K, BeatsX, an official Apple-branded iPhone case, Apple Watch bands, or simply a physical or emailed Apple Store or Apple Music gift card.

Amazon's long-awaited Prime Video app for Apple TV had the most first-week downloads of any app in the history of the tvOS App Store.

"Prime Video has been a hit with Apple TV customers around the world — it had the most first-week downloads of any app in the history of tvOS," an Amazon spokesperson reportedly told BestAppleTV.com.

Amazon and Apple haven't disclosed any actual download numbers, nor do we know the previous record or the app that achieved it. The tvOS App Store launched alongside the release of the fourth-generation Apple TV in October 2015, and thousands of apps are now available to download on the platform.

Amazon Prime Video launched on the tvOS App Store for the fourth-generation and fifth-generation Apple TV earlier this month, and it was also automatically made available on the non-tvOS third-generation Apple TV.

Similar to the Prime Video app on other platforms, the Apple TV version enables Amazon Prime subscribers to watch Amazon Prime exclusive TV series, and a collection of movies, including some titles in 4K HDR. Prime Video for tvOS supports both the Apple TV's universal search functionality and Apple's TV app.

Amazon achieved this accomplishment despite some criticism about the Prime Video app having a poorly designed interface. Apple reporters John Gruber and Rene Ritchie, for example, have both said Prime Video is the worst tvOS app they've ever seen, echoing a sentiment shared by some users on Twitter.

Nevertheless, given Prime Video is a popular service and was already available on so many other platforms, many Apple TV owners are likely happy that at least some kind of app is finally available on tvOS.

BestAppleTV.com is run by Brad Gibson, who has previously worked for Apple-related publications such as MacUser, MacFormat, MacNN, The Mac Observer, MacCentral, and Macworld, some of which have shut down. We haven't confirmed the accuracy of Amazon's statement with Apple or Amazon.

Update: Gary Ng at iPhone in Canada informed us he received the same statement from Amazon, confirming its authenticity. We've also learned the statement originates from Apple, despite being distributed by a PR agency working with Amazon.