MacRumors

In its semi-annual State of Mobile Networks report this week, OpenSignal claims that both AT&T and Verizon have experienced a decline in 4G LTE speeds since each carrier reintroduced an unlimited data plan in February. OpenSignal blames the slowdown on an increase in data demand now that caps have been removed.

From April through June, AT&T's average LTE download speed was 12.92 Mbps, while Verizon averaged 14.91 Mbps, according to crowdsourced data from thousands of users with the OpenSignal app for iOS or Android.

By comparison, OpenSignal's last report measured average LTE speeds for AT&T and Verizon at 13.86 Mbps and 16.89 Mbps respectively, based on crowdsourced data collected from 169,683 users with the OpenSignal app for iOS or Android installed between October 1 and December 31, 2016.

T-Mobile was declared as the fastest network in the United States during the testing period. The carrier's average LTE speed was 17.45 Mbps, up from 16.65 Mbps in OpenSignal's last report. Sprint's average LTE speed also rose to 9.76 Mbps, up from 8.99 Mbps in the previous study.

AT&T or Verizon remained the fastest network in select U.S. cities, including Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Diego, and San Francisco.

OpenSignal says its data is collected from regular consumer smartphones and recorded under conditions of normal usage, be it indoors, outdoors, in a city, or in the countryside. For this particular report, it said 5,073,211,200 data points were collected from 172,919 users between April 1 and June 30, 2017.

Apple today uploaded two additional videos in its series that stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Apple's personal assistant Siri, both of which are meant to show off Siri's range of functionality.

In the first video, The Rock uses Siri to activate the HomeKit-connected lights in his gym, and in the second, he speaks in Mandarin, demonstrating Siri's ability to work with multiple languages.

Support for multiple languages is one of the main differentiating factors between Siri and other voice-based AI assistants like Alexa and Cortana.

Both of today's videos are new, but look similar to scenes that were in the original "The Rock x Siri Dominate the Day" spot, which is three and a half minutes in length. In the first ad, The Rock is seen using Siri throughout an entire day as he commandeers a plane, cooks a meal in a high-end restaurant, and ends up in space.

Apple yesterday shared three other short ads depicting The Rock asking the personal assistant to set a reminder, set a timer, and take a selfie.

Apple's partnership with The Rock to highlight Siri features comes as Apple gears up to release its first Siri-based speaker at the end of this year, the HomePod. Siri is also an important part of the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with Apple undoubtedly hoping to increase awareness about all of the things Siri can do through the ad series.

AT&T has tentatively agreed to sell a flagship smartphone made by Chinese company Huawei, according to The Information.

The report, citing people familiar with the matter, said the device AT&T carries may resemble Huawei's upcoming Mate 10 smartphone, a new high-end model that the company is rumored to unveil in Europe this October. However, the smartphone could have a different name in the United States.

A deal isn’t finalized until the phone clears all the technical hurdles and the companies agree on the commercial terms of the release. Huawei’s engineers are working on hardware and software modifications that are necessary for meeting U.S. telecom standards and AT&T’s requirements, the people said.

The partnership would be a major win for Huawei, already the world's third largest smartphone maker by market share.

Huawei is the most popular smartphone maker in China, and it has aggressively pushed into Canada and several European countries, but it has considerably less brand awareness in the United States, where it lacks agreements with the big four carriers Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and until now, AT&T.

American customers have to resort to retailers such as Best Buy, Walmart, or Amazon to purchase a Huawei smartphone, reducing the brand's visibility in a country where Apple and Samsung reign supreme.

Huawei's reputation also suffered when it was banned from selling network equipment in the United States. In 2012, citing a risk to national security, a U.S. congressional report raised concerns that Huawei could build backdoors in their equipment to leak sensitive information from the U.S. to China.

Huawei has denied those claims, and the company has expressed hope that the ban will eventually be lifted. Of note, the ban doesn't appear to affect Huawei's ability to sell smartphones in the United States.

A deal with AT&T could help Huawei achieve its lofty goal of becoming the world's largest smartphone maker by 2021, a feat that would require leapfrogging both Apple and Samsung in sales.

Huawei shipped an estimated 38.4 million smartphones in the June quarter, a 20 percent increase over a year ago, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. By comparison, Apple reported it sold 41 million iPhones in the same period, up nearly 2 percent from the year-ago quarter.

"Huawei is now closing in fast on Apple and Apple will be looking nervously over its shoulder in the next few quarters," said Woody Oh, Director at Strategy Analytics. "Huawei is outperforming across Asia, Europe and Africa with popular Android models such as the P10 and Mate 9."

Huawei held just 1 percent market share in the United States as of the first quarter, according to research firm IDC.

As we enter the season of iPhone production ramp-up stories, news out of Apple's supply chain today reports that Samsung Display is gearing up to operate seven of its next-generation OLED lines at full capacity in August, all of which are dedicated to Apple and the iPhone 8.

According to ETNews, the OLED ramp-up follows a series of inspections that Samsung made on each of the seven lines over the past few weeks in preparation for Apple's much-anticipated OLED-only iPhone 8. Samsung Display is the only supplier of OLED screens for the 2017 iPhone, and the manufacturer is said to see an increase from 15,000 panels per month to 105,000 panels per month following the full scale production increase.

Samsung Display crafts multiple iPhone screens out of a single of its OLED panels, so if it keeps its production lines at maximum capacity with 100 percent yield, the supplier can produce 130 million 5.8-inch OLED iPhone screens in one year. Of course, the reality is that OLED is difficult to manufacture, and industry watchers believe that the yield rate for the Samsung Display OLED iPhone 8 line will be "at least" 60 percent. Multiple reports this year have pointed towards production delays in the supply chain, potentially leading to a limited capacity iPhone 8 launch.

While Samsung Display will be the sole OLED supplier for the 2017 iPhone, numerous sources have said that a new supplier -- LG Display -- will enter Apple's OLED supply chain in 2018. Apple is said to have invested $2.6 billion into LG Display to help the supplier get set up as a major OLED manufacturer for future iPhones, with Apple pressing LG to be ready as soon as next year. LG Display is also planning to invest $13 billion in OLED production over the next three years, continuing its dominance in the OLED TV screen market and specifically hoping to "make inroads against rival Samsung in smartphone displays."

Apple supplier Wistron is preparing to expand its India-based iPhone manufacturing, with production geared towards the next-generation iPhone SE, according to local sources (via Focus Taiwan). Apple is hoping to build its share of the Indian smartphone market by giving Wistron the majority of the orders for the new iPhone SE, which is said to ship in the first quarter of 2018.

Wistron was targeted as a supplier for the new iPhone SE due to its existing status as a manufacturer for the current iPhone SE, which it officially began assembling in India in May at a plant in Bangalore. That same plant will be the location of assembly for the new iPhone SE as well, and the sources made an unlikely claim that Wistron will target India first when it begins shipping the device to market, and then expand the launch worldwide. Within India, the device will be aimed at customers looking for a cheaper and smaller device.

The supplier is even looking into expanding its production through talks with the local government.

Taiwan-based contract electronics maker Wistron Corp. is preparing for expansion of its production base in India to produce the next-generation smaller iPhone -- the iPhone SE -- according to sources in the South Asian country. According to the sources, Wistron is expected to start to ship the new iPhone SE -- which is expected to be more affordable than larger iPhones for many Indian consumers -- in the first quarter of next year.

They said that Wistron is in talks with the Karnataka government for an extra piece of land for its production expansion, hoping it will double or even triple its production capacity over the next five years.

Recently, a questionable rumor pointed towards a potential late-August introduction of the new iPhone SE. A debut early next year is more likely since we've already entered August and have yet to hear any other rumors corroborating such an event so close to the expected "iPhone 8" keynote in September. Otherwise, there's been exactly one other rumor this year regarding a next-generation iPhone SE, related to the smartphone's potential inclusion of a strengthened Ion-X glass display.

However, even that rumor was never clear in regards to the device in the image of the leak, which could also have been the upcoming "iPhone 7s." If it was a new model of the iPhone SE, users can expect the small-screen iPhone to move away from the design of the iPhone 5s and instead include a form factor that matches it with the iPhone 7 family, alongside the usual internal upgrades.

Indian tech site Tekz24 recently reported that internals similar to the iPhone 7 are expected for the next-generation iPhone SE, although the details should be taken with the usual grain of salt due to the sketchy source. The report said the new iPhone SE will have an A10 chip, 2GB RAM, storage capacities in 32GB and 128GB (similar to current iPhone SE models), a 12MP rear camera and 5MP front camera, and a 1700 mAh battery (slightly above current models' ~1640 mAh). The device is also said to include "slightly thinner side bezels," mirroring the lessened bezels on the iPhone 7.

While the new emojis of Unicode 10 have yet to launch, Unicode President Mark Davis this week revealed a collection of new emojis have been added as "draft candidates" for potential release in Unicode 11 in 2018 (via Emojipedia). The news came out of the quarterly Unicode Technical Committee meeting, and up next the Unicode Consortium will decide on the list of final candidates at its Q4 2017 meeting in October, followed by naming the new characters at a meeting in Q1 2018.

The 67 new characters proposed for inclusion in Unicode 11 include smiling face with three hearts, smiling face with party hat, blue face with icicles, grinning face with OK as eyes, and an inversion of the well-known poo emoji called "frowning pile of poo."

There's also kangaroo, cupcake, llama, bagel, broom, skateboard, softball, smiling face with cape, and serious face with eye mask and cape. Since Unicode 11 is still so far from release, the list of its included characters and their designs are subject to change.

Closer to release is Unicode 10, which Apple highlighted last month during World Emoji Day by looking at a few of the emojis coming to iOS, macOS, and watchOS later in 2017. New emojis include Woman with Headscarf, Bearded Person, Breastfeeding, Sandwich, Coconut, T-Rex, Zebra, Zombie, Elf, Star-Struck, Exploding Head, and more.

Apple didn't specify a date for the launch of the Unicode 10 characters, but they should appear around the public debut of iOS 11 or soon after. It traditionally takes Apple a few months to include support for new emoji. Last year, the Unicode Consortium released Unicode 9 in June 2016, and then Apple debuted those characters in iOS 10.2 in October 2016.

For a full list of the 67 new emoji candidates in Unicode 11, visit Emojipedia.

We've learned a lot about the upcoming iPhone 8 thanks to HomePod firmware that Apple accidentally released to the public, and the latest detail highlights what we can expect from the front and rear cameras in the device.

Uncovered by Brazilian site iHelp BR, code within the firmware seems to hint at front and rear cameras capable of recording video in 4K at 60 frames per second.

Currently, the rear camera in the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus is able to capture 4K video at 30 frames per second, while the front-facing camera is limited to 1080p recording. Though these specifications are mentioned, it's not yet entirely clear if this is functionality that we can expect to see in the iPhone 8, but the improved frame rate could be useful for the augmented reality applications coming in iOS 11.

From leaks earlier this week, we've also learned that the front and rear facing cameras may also gain "SmartCamera" features able to detect different types of scenes, photo conditions, and photography subjects.

The HomePod firmware has provided a wealth of information about the iPhone, and in addition to these camera changes, it's also confirmed infrared facial recognition, the general shape of the iPhone 8, and features like a split sensor bar and tap to wake.

Apple today shared yet another trailer for its upcoming original television show "Carpool Karaoke: The Series," This time featuring Will Smith and James Corden singing a variety of songs, including the theme song to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

"Carpool Karaoke: The Series" is set to premiere next Tuesday, on August 8. Following the premiere, Apple plans to release new episodes of the show on a weekly basis. There are 16 half-hour episodes in total, all of which will be exclusive to Apple Music subscribers. Each episode features a different host and celebrity pairing.

Along with today's video, two other "Carpool Karaoke" videos have been released this week, highlighting the range of celebrities viewers can expect to see participate on the show.

Participants will include Will Smith and James Corden; Miley, Noah, Billy Ray and the entire Cyrus family; Shakira and Trevor Noah; Game of Thrones stars Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams; Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett Smith; John Legend, Alicia Keys and Taraji P. Henson; LeBron James and James Corden; and more.

When "Carpool Karaoke: The Series" debuts next Tuesday, it will be available to watch in more than 100 countries.

We're a little over one month out from the expected September unveiling of the ten year anniversary iPhone, which has come to be known as the "iPhone 8" ahead of release. While recent HomePod firmware discoveries have essentially confirmed the iPhone 8's edge-to-edge design and front-facing sensor bar notch, it's still unclear how iOS 11 will be incorporated into all of these drastically redesigned hardware upgrades.

New mockups shared by Allen Pike and Max Rudberg this week have taken a look at how these changes might be realized in an iPhone 8 running iOS 11. Particularly, the mockups address one of the more curious additions in the iOS 11 beta: large, banner pieces of text that sit atop apps like Messages, Mail, and the App Store. Pike pointed out that these "Large Title" banners sit below navigation buttons in many of the apps, with plenty of "weirdly empty" white space on current model iPhones.

Pike's theory, further polished in enhanced mockups by Rudberg, is that iOS 11 will shift the topmost navigation buttons within these apps to a bottom bar -- perhaps a "function area" -- where users will easily be able to tap UI inputs to jump around within the apps.

In total, Rudberg realized three possible outcomes that Apple could create with regards to the sensor bar notch and bottom navigation inputs. In the first mockup, the entirety of the iPhone 8's 5.8-inch display is used by the status bar and navigation buttons at the bottom near the virtual home button.

The next two designs include a variety of combinations: the sensor bar using an all-black UI to hide the hardware notch, and the same effect "blending" the bottom navigation bar. As for Rudberg himself, at first he was more favorable of the UI blending the notch into the software of the iPhone, but due to what would result in a visually smaller display, he's now hoping that Apple will "embrace the notch."

Beforehand I was fond of the idea of blending the statusbar with the hardware, but seeing the mockups like this, I’m not so sure. Blending the statusbar with the hardware makes the screen seem smaller than it is and the result is less striking. I’m now leaning towards that Apple will embrace the notch.

This week, HomePod firmware data also revealed that the notch will sit between a "split" status bar, where iOS 11 will showcase data like connection, battery, Bluetooth, and more on each side of the notch. One question mark that remains in Rudberg's mockups is where the time will be located in iOS 11 on an iPhone 8, although there appears to be some room on the left or right side of the front-facing hardware for it to be located.

The front-facing sensor bar on the iPhone 8 has been a point of contention for device concept and mockups over the past few months. It's expected that this bar will hold the earpiece, front-facing camera, and new 3D sensors for advanced facial recognition. Recent rumors have suggested that the iPhone 8 will do away with Touch ID completely, and rely on facial recognition abilities to authenticate purchases and other iOS elements that the fingerprint sensor previously guarded.

To see all of the iPhone 8 mockups shared this week, check out Pike's blog post here and Rudberg's here.

Apple recently reported sales of 11.4 million iPads in the June quarter, an increase of 15 percent compared to the year-ago quarter. iPad revenue was also up, but only 2 percent year over year, suggesting Apple was selling a lot of new lower-priced 9.7-inch iPads, which start at just $329 in the United States.

A new report by research firm Strategy Analytics, however, argues that isn't entirely the case. Apple's average selling price for iPads remained steady at $435 in the June quarter, down only one dollar from the March quarter.

That doesn't mean the new 9.7-inch iPad, introduced in late March, isn't popular. With a faster A9 chip and brighter Retina display than the iPad Air 2 it replaced, and for less money than even an iPad mini 4, the tablet provides good value with few compromises for customers at the low end.

What it does mean is that more expensive iPad Pro models likely sold well enough to offset the addition of a lower-priced iPad in Apple's tablet lineup. Apple launched new 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models at its Worldwide Developers Conference, a few weeks before the end of its June quarter.

"It's undeniable that lower pricing on the new iPad helped drive sales throughout the June quarter, but the ASPs tell a slightly different story," said Eric Smith, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, speaking with MacRumors.

"ASPs were steady from last quarter, showing that higher priced iPad Pro models also sold well, even though the new 12.9-inch and 10.5-inch models were out for less than a month in the June quarter," he added.

For historical perspective, the average selling price of iPads has typically been between roughly $415 and $450 since 2015, although it briefly rose to $490 in the year-ago quarter following the launch of the original 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

Wall Street Beat

Apple's sales of 11.4 million iPads far exceeded analyst expectations. The average Wall Street prediction was approximately 9 million iPads sold, according to Wells Fargo, with some analysts predicting as low as 7 million.

Strategy Analytics estimates that Apple took a 26 percent share of the global tablet market in the June quarter, up from 21 percent in the year-ago quarter. iPad remained the world's best selling tablet, ahead of Samsung tablets, which maintained an estimated 13 percent market share in the quarter.

Chinese company Huawei also saw explosive 42 percent growth in the quarter, with an estimated 3.2 million tablet shipments, according to Strategy Analytics. Apple, Huawei, and Amazon were the only tablet makers to experience growth in the quarter, with Samsung, Lenovo, and all other vendors facing declines.

It's worth noting that Apple doesn't disclose iPad sales on a model-by-model basis in its quarterly earnings results.

Given the new 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models were released towards the end of the June quarter, the tablets should have even more of an impact on Apple's tablet sales in the fourth quarter. Apple's 15 percent increase in iPad sales marked the product category's first unit growth in nearly four years.

Also See: IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker for June Quarter

Apple shipped an estimated 2.8 million Apple Watch units in the June quarter, an increase of 56 percent from an estimated 1.8 million shipments in the year-ago quarter, according to a new report by research firm Strategy Analytics.

Strategy Analytics previously estimated Apple Watch shipments totaled 13.6 million in 2015, 11.6 million in 2016, and 3.5 million last quarter, suggesting Apple shipped its 30 millionth Apple Watch at some point in the past three to four months.

Specifically, Apple Watch shipments have now reached an estimated 31.5 million units over the product's lifetime.

Despite the milestone, Strategy Analytics claims Apple trails Fitbit and Chinese company Xiaomi, estimated to be the world's largest wearables vendor, but both sell less expensive fitness trackers.

Xiaomi shipped an estimated 3.7 million wearables in the June quarter, according to Strategy Analytics, while Fitbit on Wednesday reported sales of 3.4 million devices in the same period, down from 5.7 million a year ago.

"Apple has for now lost its wearables leadership to Xiaomi, due to a lack of presence in the sizeable fitness band subcategory," said Cliff Raskind, Director at Strategy Analytics. "However, the rumored upcoming Watch Series 3 launch with enhanced health tracking could prove to be a popular smartwatch model and enable Apple to reclaim the top wearables spot later this year."

It's important to acknowledge these are estimated figures, and that shipments do not necessarily reflect sales. And, as mentioned, Xiaomi doesn't participate in the high-end smartwatch market, and Apple doesn't compete in the low-end fitness tracker market. It's essentially an apples to oranges comparison.

Apple doesn't break out Apple Watch sales like it does with iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Instead, it groups the wearable under its "Other Products" category, alongside Apple TV, AirPods, Beats, iPods, and other accessories.

Apple reported "Other Products" revenue of $2.7 billion in the June quarter, up 23 percent on year.

In its post-earnings conference call, Apple CEO Tim Cook once again talked up how well Apple Watch is supposedly selling.

"Sales of Apple Watch were up over 50 percent in the June quarter," said Cook. "It's the number one selling smartwatch in the world by a very wide margin."

"Apple Watch is having a positive impact on peoples' health and daily lives, and motivating them to sit less and move more," he added. "With features like built-in GPS and waterproofing, Apple Watch Series 2 is the perfect companion for hiking, running, and swimming."

Cook has made similar statements in the past. In the March quarter, he noted that sales of Apple Watch nearly doubled year over year. In the December quarter, he announced that Apple Watch had its best quarter ever.

Strategy Analytics doesn't disclose its exact methodology of calculating Apple Watch shipments for competitive reasons, but executive director Neil Mawston has told MacRumors the research firm uses "a blend of channel checks, financial analysis, and other sources" when asked in the past.

"It is the same methodology we have used for phones since the 1990s and for wearables since the modern market first emerged circa 2013," he added.

The focus now turns to the fall, when Apple is rumored to debut Apple Watch Series 3 models, potentially alongside its new lineup of iPhones.

Recent iPhone 8 rumors have suggested Apple may be planning to replace Touch ID with a new facial recognition system, but there's been a lot of question about how Apple Pay will work and whether Apple will indeed be able to eliminate Touch ID entirely.

We've already seen confirmation that Apple is working on facial recognition in the iPhone 8 through a recent HomePod firmware release, and now additional information found in the code confirms Apple has a mechanism for authenticating Touch ID payments with a face scan instead of through a fingerprint.

A com.apple.passbook.payment string found in the HomePod firmware by iOS developer @r_idn features two references to "pearl.field-detect" and "pearl.pre-arm" among other payment verification data. As we learned from earlier leaks, "pearl" refers to Pearl ID, the codename for Apple's facial recognition system. Apple's current implementation appears to be incomplete, as pearl is only mentioned under presentation and not authentication.

While many are skeptical that Touch ID can be replaced by a facial recognition system that's equally secure, rumors have suggested Apple's facial recognition technique captures more data points than a fingerprint scan, making it more secure than Touch ID.

It's not yet clear how Apple Pay will work without a Home button and without a fingerprint, but it will presumably be able to authenticate by scanning a user's face, with a payment completed via a finger on the screen as is the case in current iPhones.

Previous HomePod firmware leaks related to the iPhone 8 have suggested Apple has not implemented an under-display Touch ID solution as was initially rumored for the device, and it's looking more and more like there's no other physical Touch ID solution built into the upcoming smartphone.

For more on the iPhone 8, make sure to check out our extensive roundup, which aggregates all of the rumors we've heard about the device so far. Lately, we've unearthed a lot of new information thanks to the HomePod firmware, including details confirming infrared facial tracking, the design of the iPhone 8, a split status bar and tap to wake, and an upcoming "SmartCamera" feature.