As customers around the world begin receiving Apple's iPhone 7 Smart Battery Case, it has now been confirmed that the charging case is rated for 2,365 mAh, a 26% increase over the iPhone 6s Smart Battery Case's 1,877 mAh rating.
Chinese technical certifications revealed that the iPhone 7 likely has a larger 1,960 mAh battery, as previously rumored, meaning Apple's Smart Battery Case can charge the smartphone fully with roughly 17% capacity remaining.
Apple officially says a fully charged iPhone 7 with a fully charged Smart Battery Case can provide combined talk time up to 26 hours, internet use up to 22 hours on LTE, and video playback up to 24 hours.
When the Smart Battery Case is turned on, a battery status is displayed on the Lock screen and in Notification Center to keep track of its charge level. The case has a silicone exterior in white or black, while the inside has a soft microfiber lining.
Showcased during the September 7 Apple event as an example of the iPhone 7's upgraded A10 Fusion processor, the mobile RPG Oz: Broken Kingdom today launched in the iOS App Store for free. The game features a turn-based combat system with characters based on L. Frank Baum's novel, including Tin Man, Scarecrow, Lion and a new heroine named Ophelia Shen.
Developed and released by Nexon M and This Game Studio, Oz: Broken Kingdom has players collecting and upgrading over 100 unique abilities during a story mode that spans seven regions of the land of Oz, "including the now dangerous Munchkin countryside, perilous halls of Glinda’s Castle, and the many shadowy lands beyond." Players will battle both small minions and epic bosses as they progress through the single-player mode, focusing on leveling up abilities in the three areas of strength, nature, and magic.
There's also an Arena mode, where players can create and join guilds with friends, collect companions to fight in battles, and ultimately challenge other players in real-time Arena battles in a player-vs-player mode. Throughout these PvP sessions, each player will climb or fall down a rankings leaderboard, and earn rewards to make taking out opponents easier.
“In Oz: Broken Kingdom, we’ve not only reinterpreted the land of Oz but expanded its lore,” said Scott Blackwood, Founder and Head of Product at This Game Studio. “Players will explore a new take on Oz, one brought to life with stunning detail and brimming with fierce enemies at every turn.”
“The experienced team at This Game Studio realized a tremendous opportunity when they took this globally relevant brand and reimagined it in a way that would resonate with today’s mobile gamer audience,” said Lawrence Koh, General Manager at Nexon M. “We knew when we first saw the game in early development that it was going to exceed player expectations on everything from graphics, fresh content, and most importantly, fun gameplay.”
During the iPhone 7 event last week, This Game Studio co-founder Heather Price noted that the studio was "able to do things visually on the iPhone 7 that were simply not possible before." Price listed features like real-time reflections, weather effects, and environmental destruction abilities that all benefited from the boosted processing power of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Other bonuses from Apple's new smartphone include responsive haptic feedback taps during gameplay, a wider color gamut, and a more immersive audio experience thanks to the iPhone 7's stereo speakers.
Although optimized for the iPhone 7, Oz: Broken Kingdom is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch models running iOS 7 or later, and is also available on the Google Play Store on Android devices. The game is free-to-download [Direct Link], but includes a handful of in-app purchases.
The combination of upgrading to iOS 10 and installing the latest carrier updates appears to be causing issues for some T-Mobile and Telstra customers in the United States and Australia respectively, crowdsourced information suggests.
A number of T-Mobile and MetroPCS customers claim that once their iPhone loses service temporarily, the device is unable to reestablish a cellular connection unless it is fully restarted or network settings are reset. The issue appears to have started after the latest 25.1 carrier update on iPhones running iOS 10.
Anyone on T-Mobile that has done the carrier update to 25.1, have you been getting no service? I can't get service at all. I can get it, if I reset network settings. Then if I lose service I can't get it back.
I am in the same boat as many others. If I can stay connected to the LTE network the 25.1 update is fine. However, I work in a building with certain areas that have no coverage. Once I walk in those areas and lose signal, then walk to an area where I normally have full bars I can't get it back on no matter what I do (hard reset, Airplane Mode, etc...) The only fix I found was going into settings and Reset Network Settings. Totally sucks but that is basically what I have to do. T-Mobile rep said he did something on his end too, but didn't fix the issue when it came back.
Meanwhile, several Telstra customers in Australia report that Visual Voicemail no longer works after updating to iOS 10 and installing the latest carrier update. "I have no indication that a voicemail has been left and nothing shows up in the voicemail section," wrote one user. "Voicemails are definitely being left though."
It is unclear if Apple is aware of these issues, but they will likely be resolved in a future software or carrier update.
Pandora has introduced Pandora Plus, a new ad-free subscription service that builds upon Pandora One with unlimited song skips and replays and a new predictive offline mode for $4.99 per month. Meanwhile, users of its existing ad-supported tier will gain the ability to skip more songs and replay songs by watching video ads.
The new predictive offline mode automatically detects when you lose your data connection and switches to one of your top stations.
Pandora says it will automatically save your thumbprint radio station as well as your three most recently listened to stations in case you lose your connection or request offline listening. The app will automatically determine which of the four stations to switch to based on your recent listening, and when your signal drops, it will alert you with an audio message acknowledging that your connection has been lost and that it will switch to an offline station.
Pandora CEO Tim Westergren also confirmed it will launch an on-demand option "later this year" to compete with the likes of Apple Music and Spotify.
“We’re methodically and passionately developing the world’s most personal music experience,” said Tim Westergren, founder and CEO at Pandora. “And that includes flexibility in how you listen and what you pay for it. Whether a listener wants to take advantage of our enhanced ad-supported experience, our groundbreaking subscription radio service, or our fully interactive on-demand option coming later this year, we have a solution tailored for you at a price point you can afford."
Pandora Plus and the new ad-supported features launch in the U.S. today and will be rolling out to iOS and Android smartphone users over the coming months. The subscription service will expand to Australia and New Zealand in 2017.
Pandora currently provides free, ad-supported radio stations centered around particular artists or songs, rather than offering on-demand listening like Apple Music. By offering only randomized, radio-like stations that prevent users from playing specific songs, it has been able to bypass licensing agreements with major record labels.
YouTuber MKBHD recently unboxed the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus on his channel, showing the contents of each smartphone's packaging, the boot-up of iOS, and even a quick overview of official Geekbench benchmark results. In the video, the unboxed iPhones encompass the new Jet Black and Black color options, for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, respectively.
Interestingly, once MKBHD begins cycling through the iOS set-up process, he discovered a new step on iPhone 7 that focuses on the haptic feedback of the new Home Button. After confirming your language, region, and setting up Touch ID, Apple ID, and Siri, the iPhone 7 will allow you to "meet the new Home Button." The added process in iOS 10's start-up on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus makes "your iPhone experience even more personal by choosing the click that's right for you."
Here, the iPhone will present you with three options of varying haptic feedback clicks. MKBHD described option one as "really light," almost to the point where he wasn't sure if he was pressing the button or not, three as "a really firm click response," and two as "a default, somewhere in the middle." He said with the middle option the "whole phone seems to be vibrating still," but he decided to go with the highly responsive third option to be sure when the button's been pressed.
Otherwise it seems like the contents of each iPhone 7 box, and the set-up process, are largely what's expected at this point from Apple. Each iPhone comes with the usual paperwork, Lightning cable, AC adapter, and now the new Lightning EarPods and Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter, which are the biggest changes this year. MKBHD's video showcases the colors of Jet Black and Black as well, and he recommends the matte Black finish over Jet Black, which he calls a "special edition" iPhone that's worth checking out in a store, but might be frustrating to keep clean sans case.
He also runs a quick Geekbench test, confirming 3GB of RAM in the iPhone 7 Plus and single-core and multi-core results that fall largely in line with previously reported benchmark results. As expected, the iPhone 7 has 2GB of RAM, but MKBHD didn't put it through the paces of a Geekbench run.
Excitement for the iPhone 7 is growing ahead of the wide release tomorrow, September 16. Last night, Apple confirmed that all models of the iPhone 7 Plus as well as the Jet Black iPhone 7 have completely sold out ahead of Friday's launch and will not be available at Apple's retail stores for walk-in customers. Those prepared to buy other models are already lining up at some Apple stores, including the 5th Avenue Apple Store in New York and Apple Union Square in San Francisco.
Yesterday, John Gruber at Daring Fireball highlighted just how well Apple's A10 Fusion chip found in its iPhone 7 stands up to the competition in terms of raw speed.
Looking at Geekbench results for single and multi-core performance across a range of smartphones, Gruber noted that the iPhone 7 series beats all newcomers on every score, including Samsung's new Galaxy S7 and Note 7 Android phones.
More impressively perhaps, the A10 Fusion processor scores faster overall results than every MacBook Air Apple has ever made, only once falling behind a multi-core score recorded for the early 2015 MacBook Air, which is powered by an Intel Core i7 and scores 5650, just edging the iPhone 7's result of 5630. Still, the laptop can't keep up with the A10 chip's raw single-core performance (2989 compared to 3261). Apple's latest flagship phone also performs comparably to an early 2013 MacBook Pro, powered by an Intel Core i5.
Apple has invested heavily in its Ax-series of processors, with some commentators and rumors suggesting it could eventually transition an ARM-based processor to future MacBooks. You can learn more about the technology behind Apple's A10 Fusion chip in MacRumors' dedicated article on the subject.
Amazon yesterday announced its Echo connected smart speaker is now available to pre-order in the U.K. and Germany, signaling the end of a 14-month wait for the device to become available outside of the U.S.
For those unfamiliar with the device, the Echo's array of microphones lets users query voice-based assistant Alexa, who can be asked to do things like play music, read the news, use apps, check the weather, turn on the lights, set timers, and more.
The Amazon Echo costs £150 in the UK and 180 Euros in Germany, while Amazon Prime members get a £50 or 50 Euros discount off the sale price if they pre-order today. The Echo ships on September 28 and October 26, respectively, and the device is available in black or white.
The company also made good on Tuesday's deleted tweet and announced an "all-new" version of the Echo Dot, a smaller $49.99 speaker that allows existing Echo owners to extend the smart system around the house.
The Echo Dot, originally launched in March of this year at the price of $89.99, also lets existing Echo owners connect up their entertainment system and use Alexa to control streaming music services.
The new Dot includes a faster speech processor than the old one and feeds into its Echo Spatial Perception feature, which enables the device to identify which speaker is closest to the user when a query is put to it.
Otherwise, design differences between the first- and second-generation Echo Dot are subtle: the new Dot is marginally smaller and lighter, with an identical diameter but a height of 1.3-inches, compared to 1.5-inches, and weighs 5.7 ounces versus 8.8 ounces.
In addition, volume buttons have replaced the control slider on the top, and a 3.5mm audio cable is no longer included in the box. The device also comes with a 90 day warranty, as opposed to the original model's one-year warranty, and is likewise available in the U.K. and Germany.
Apple has moved to quash rumors that it is interested in purchasing rival music streaming service Tidal, according to BuzzFeed.
Back in June of this year, The Wall Street Journalreported that Apple was "in talks" to acquire Tidal, which has fiercely competed with Apple Music for exclusivity rights to top list artists.
However, pushed on the subject in a forthcoming interview, head of Apple Music Jimmy Iovine told BuzzFeed that "We're really running our own race. We're not looking to acquire any streaming services." Iovine didn't deny that discussions had taken place, but said that no acquisition deal was currently in the works.
Iovine's remarks are the first time anyone from Apple has commented on the alleged talks, which some believed indicated Cupertino's hardened resolve to catch Spotify as the leader in the streaming market. Yesterday, Spotify announced that it now has over 40 million paying subscribers, compared to Apple Music's 17 million as of early September, showing that Spotify is still outpacing Apple's service in terms of growth.
Buying Tidal would have landed Apple Music an additional 4 million subscribers, all things remaining the same.
Theoretically, acquiring the company could have also aided Apple's relationships with some big names in the music industry – Tidal is owned by various artists including Beyoncé, Rihanna, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, and Madonna. Back in June, Kanye West suggested the company wanted to partner up with Apple Music to heal the schism between the rival services, which he said was harming the industry.
In March 2015, Jay Z acquired Tidal parent company Aspiro AB for $56 million, but it has struggled to find stability. The company has moved on three chief executives in the last year, and last week it reported a net loss of $28 million for 2015, more than double its losses from the year before.
Apple released a redesigned, more streamlined version of its own streaming service on Tuesday as a part of the new iOS 10 release.
Apple has issued a statement to a number of press outlets including TechCrunch, indicating that all models of the iPhone 7 Plus as well as the Jet Black iPhone 7 have completely sold out ahead of Friday's launch and will not be available at Apple's retail stores. The announcement will help those who had hoped to purchase one of those models on a walk-in basis on Friday plan appropriately.
We couldn’t be happier with the initial response to iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and we are looking forward to beginning sales through our retail stores and partners around the world.
Beginning Friday, limited quantities of iPhone 7 in silver, gold, rose gold, and black will be available for walk-in customers at Apple retail stores. During the online pre-order period, initial quantities of iPhone 7 Plus in all finishes and iPhone 7 in jet black sold out and will not be available for walk-in customers. Availability at partner locations for all finishes may vary and we recommend checking directly with them.
Customers can continue to order all models in all colors on apple.com. We sincerely appreciate our customers’ patience as we work hard to get the new iPhone into the hands of everyone who wants one as quickly as possible.
As Apple notes, it is possible that other retailers may have some stock of these models, but given that Apple prioritizes its own sales channels over other retailers, customers should not count on being able to find them elsewhere.
Apple announced last Thursday that it will not release first-weekend sales numbers for the iPhone 7, and given quickly slipping shipping estimates in Apple's online stores and extreme shortages of in-store stock for launch day, it appears early sales will be heavily constrained by supply rather than any weakness in demand.
In recent weeks, Apple has been sending out surveys to users asking about MacBook Pro features, most notably the headphone jack. A survey question shared by MacRumors reader Blake asks "Do you ever use the headphone port on your MacBook Pro with Retina display?"
There are several other reports on Twitter from users who have been asked similar questions about the headphone jack, suggesting Apple is exploring the removal of the headphone jack in a future version of the MacBook Pro. Apple has eliminated the headphone jack from the iPhone, so it makes sense that the trend will continue for other products.
Apple is also asking users about battery life and other ports, including the SD card slot. One question asked "How do you upload photos from a digital camera or phone to your MacBook Pro with Retina Display?"
Based on a leaked MacBook Pro shell, the upcoming MacBook Pro will include four USB-C ports and a headphone jack, with Apple doing away with all other ports on the machine. If the shell is an actual part, the machine will not include an SD card slot, HDMI port, USB-A port, or a MagSafe connection.
The design of the MacBook Pro that's launching in 2016 has already been finalized ahead of its release, and Apple is likely to continue using the same design for several years going forward, so the removal of the headphone jack is probably not something that MacBook Pro users need to worry about for the foreseeable future.
Rumors suggest Apple will release a redesigned MacBook Pro with a redesigned chassis and an OLED touch panel as early as October.
Within the new Photos app in iOS 10, there's a tab called "Memories," which curates various photos and videos you've taken in the past into specific memory collections. Without any steps required on your part, Memories gives you an automatic homemade movie from these past family gatherings or vacations, but thanks to a few editing tools, you can also tweak each memory to your liking (note all steps are in portrait mode, although landscape is available).
Navigate to Photos to find the new "Memories" tab in the center of the app, where you can scroll through your personally curated list of memories and choose whichever one you wish to edit and share. Within each detailed memory view, you'll find a list of all the photos and videos contained in the memory (tap "Show all" to see more than a summary), the geographic location the pictures were taken, nearby photos, and related memories you might be interested in.
A few examples of Memories in the new Photos app
The last two options at the very bottom let you favorite the memory or delete it permanently. Although the "Select" option on this page might seem like an option to remove photos only from this memory, it should be noted that deleting any content through this method will delete it from your iPhone and iCloud Photo Library, not only the memory. Jump to the instructions for "complex memory editing" below to discover how to delete photos and videos only from the memory, as well as add more.
Many customers who pre-ordered the Apple Watch Series 2 from Best Buy will not be receiving their new devices on launch day, according to emails the company sent out this evening.
During pre-orders that took place on Friday, September 9, Best Buy listed a Friday, September 16 delivery date, leading customers to believe they would receive their devices on launch day. Instead, Best Buy won't be shipping out orders until 9/28, nearly two weeks later.
To compensate pre-order customers who are facing delays, Best Buy has included a promo code for a $50 discount on a future Best Buy purchase in each email, which must be used by October 14, 2016. That will get pre-order customers an extra Sport Band or another Apple Watch accessory.
Customers affected have ordered a wide range of Apple Watch Series 2 models, including the stainless steel Apple Watch with White Sport Band and various Sport configurations.
Apple Watch Series 2 supplies were constrained from the moment Apple's pre-orders started, with shipping estimates on many models slipping within a matter of minutes, so it is no surprise Best Buy has been forced to delay its own shipments. Most Apple Watch Series 2 models placed today won't ship from Apple for 3 to 5 weeks, and Best Buy now lists all Series 2 watches as "Coming Soon."
In iOS 10, the Messages app is gaining Digital Touch, a communication feature that was previously limited to watchOS. With Digital Touch, you can send friends and family drawings, heartbeats, fireballs, kisses, and more, all with just a few taps.
Sketches, taps, and other Digital Touch messages created on your iPhone are also viewable on the Apple Watch and vice versa, giving you plenty of ways to express yourself. Here's how to use the new feature.
Accessing Digital Touch
Open the Messages app.
Open an existing conversation or start a new one.
Tap the icon that looks like two fingers over a heart.
Tap on the arrow on the right hand side to expand the Digital Touch window.
You can send taps and drawings by using the smaller Digital Touch interface that replaces the keyboard, but there's more screen real estate to work with when it's expanded to the size of the full iPhone display.
Former Time Warner Cable executive Peter Stern has joined Apple to work on the cloud services team, reports The Wall Street Journal. Stern will serve as a vice president, reporting to iTunes chief Eddy Cue.
During his tenure at Time Warner Cable, Stern was involved in talks with Apple about a potential deal for a joint television service that would be offered on the Apple TV. No such deal was able to be established, however, as Apple has had ongoing negotiation difficulties with content providers. Stern left Time Warner Cable following its acquisition by Charter Communications earlier this year.
He served in senior strategy and corporate development roles at the cable company as it maneuvered through multiple takeover attempts over the past few years.
Most recently, as chief product, people and strategy officer, Mr. Stern helped implement a strategy focused on customer service that helped Time Warner Cable grow its cable TV subscribers last year after nearly a decade of losses.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Stern is a vocal proponent for eliminating proprietary cable boxes provided by cable companies. He believes content providers should "be more open" to offering TV channels as apps across a wide range of devices.
Given his expertise in the cable industry, Stern may help Eddy Cue negotiate deals with media companies for a future television service. Cloud services also encompasses Apple Music, iTunes, and other iCloud-based products, so his hiring does not necessarily suggest a renewed interest in television streaming.
Although iOS 10 brings with it a few subtle visual and mechanical changes, some of its alterations to the most-used iPhone software features will probably be pretty easy to spot. One of those is the new Control Center, which has not only received a cosmetic upgrade, but has gotten a few new added abilities as well.
The Control Center, in essence, is no longer a single card stocked with all of the expected iOS features you've become used to seeing (like the flashlight, calculator, and timer) — it's now a sliding collection of three panels. The first is a basic launchpad of settings like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the second is dedicated to Apple Music, and the third houses your favorite accessories from Apple's new HomeKit-focused app "Home."
Control Center in iOS 9 (left) and iOS 10 (right)
Some of these shuffled-around buttons can make Control Center in iOS 10 a bit discombobulating when you first bring it up, so follow this guide to get a general impression of how to use Control Center, and how to find your favorite features that may not be where they were before.
With just two days to go until the official launch of the iPhone 7, customers who are hoping to get their hands on one of Apple's devices have started lining up outside of Apple retail locations around the world.
At the 5th Avenue Apple Store in New York, one of Apple's flagship locations, people have been waiting in line for days, saving spots with folding chairs and small one-person tents. Other stores in New York also have short lines at this time, based on photos sent in by MacRumors readers.
At Apple's new San Francisco location, Apple Union Square, a handful of people are already waiting outside for an iPhone 7. People started lining up over the weekend.
At the Summerlin Apple Store in Las Vegas, MacStadium's Brian Stucki set up a webcam to monitor the crowd situation. No one is waiting in line yet, but it should be a fun way to watch how activity progresses over the course of the rest of the week.
Shipping estimates on some of the most popular Black and Jet Black iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models range into several weeks and last until November in some cases, so waiting in line on launch day is the only way to get one of the highly coveted devices if you missed out on pre-orders.
The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus launch on Friday, September 16, and will debut first in Australia. It's Thursday morning in the country, so there's just a day to go until people start getting their hands on devices and sharing videos, pictures, and first impressions.
When the Messages App Store first launched just ahead of iOS 10, there was no categories section, making it difficult to discover apps beyond those that were featured by Apple.
As more and more Messages App Store apps have rolled out, Apple has updated the App Store to include a new Categories feature, improving discovery.
Located at the top of the Messages App Store between "Featured" and "Manage," the new Category section breaks down apps into different groups, including Entertainment, Food & Drink, Games, Lifestyle, Photo & Video, Productivity, Shopping, Social Networking, Stickers, and Travel.
Each section includes a selection of apps chosen by Apple as "Our Favorites," along with a "More to Explore" option. As the Messages App Store grows, these categories will likely fill out and gain new sections.
In the Stickers category, there's a further breakdown to make it easier to sort through the myriad stickers in the Messages App Store. Sticker categories include Animals & Nature, Comics & Cartoons, Eating & Drinking, Emoji & Expressions, Fashion, Gaming, Kids & Family, and Places & Objects.
Though the Messages App Store has only been available for a day, it's already flush with apps. We've rounded up some of the best sticker packs we've come across and some of the must-have time-saving apps that genuinely improve the Messages experience. For tips on installing apps and using stickers, make sure to check out our how to.
With iOS 10, Apple has focused on expanding 3D Touch functionality to make it more relevant to users, in the hope that they eventually come to see it as second nature. If you have an iPhone 6s or later, there are a wide range of 3D Touch gestures that you can test out in iOS 10, particularly from the home screen.
Here we've compiled a list of native app icons that now support 3D Touch, as well as a handful of other useful functions. Some of them will be more relevant to you than others, depending on your usage habits. You can find additional 3D Touch shortcuts for the Control Center and Widgets Panel in iOS 10 in our respective how-to guides.
Some of the most handy 3D Touch functions can be found by hard-pressing the Settings app icon, which allows you to access the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi screens to quickly connect to a wireless device or hotspot.
Apple has issued a statement to a number of press outlets 
Former Time Warner Cable executive Peter Stern has joined Apple to work on the cloud services team, reports 
