MacRumors

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company will begin volume production on Apple's A11 chip in April, with a production capacity of 50 million units of the chip aimed to be completed before July. The A11 chip is slated to power the new iPhone lineup launching later in 2017, including what is believed to be iterative "iPhone 7s" and "iPhone 7s Plus" updates, along with the specced-out "iPhone 8."

The A11 chips will be built on a 10-nanometer FinFET manufacturing process and are packed with a "wafer-level integrated fan-out" technology, according to a report by the Economic Daily News (via DigiTimes). For the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, TSMC currently manufactures the A10 chip on a 16nm FinFET process. The jump to 10nm is tipped to yield chips that are more power efficient, and subsequently provide end user experiences that are snappier.

Before the end of 2017, TSMC is expected to "maintain a capacity" for producing a total of 100 million of Apple's A11 chips.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will begin volume production of Apple's A11 chips in April and will prepare a capacity for production of 50 million units of the chip before July, according to a Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) report.

The A11 chips, which will power the upcoming iPhone series slated for launch in September 2017, will be built on a 10 nm FinFET process and packed with a wafer-level integrated fan-out (InFO) packaging technology, said the report.

Last summer it was confirmed that TSMC would become the sole supplier of the A11 chip, with the design of the chip reportedly being completed around that time as well. The supplier was also the sole maker of the A10 chip in the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, which ultimately helped lead TSMC to revenue growth towards the end of last year.

TSMC company spokesperson Michael Kramer earlier this month said that an official decision regarding the creation of a major production plant in the United States would now be held off until 2018. Kramer said the company would lose much of its "flexibility" if it moved production stateside, but if it does end up building a U.S. plant for the production of Apple chips it could become an investment worth upwards of $16 billion.

Amber Rudd, the United Kingdom's home secretary, recently mentioned that it is "completely unacceptable" that the government could not gain access to messages stored on mobile applications protected by end-to-end encryption, such as WhatsApp. Rudd is calling for the UK police and other intelligence agencies to be given access to such apps to thwart any future terrorist plots, coming in the wake of the attack in London last week (via The Guardian).

Rudd's next step is summoning leaders of various technology companies to a meeting with the UK government on March 30 "to discuss what to do." The home secretary mentioned that the government would be willing to pass completely new legislation focusing on encrypted messaging and mobile apps if the talks this Thursday don't go her way. Rudd referred to WhatsApp, and similar apps, as potential "secret places" for terrorists to hide.

But she stressed it was her desire to persuade internet and social media companies to cooperate voluntarily with the government on this and also the posting of extremist material online.

Rudd added: “It is completely unacceptable. There should be no place for terrorists to hide.

“We need to make sure that organizations like WhatsApp, and there are plenty of others like that, don’t provide a secret place for terrorists to communicate with each other.”

Rudd's focus on WhatsApp is spurned by information that Khalid Masood -- the individual behind the London attacks outside Parliament -- used the Facebook-owned messaging app just minutes before the attack. While police believe Masood worked alone, they are seeking as much information about him as possible, including what or who he might have messaged through WhatsApp. While the police know Masood opened WhatsApp before the attacks, it is unknown whether or not he sent or received any messages.

In a statement, WhatsApp itself said that it was "horrified" by the events in London and would be "cooperating with law enforcement" as events proceed. The situation in the United Kingdom has already drawn parallels to the Apple-FBI dispute that lasted a few months last year, with Rudd directly mentioning Apple CEO Tim Cook at one point in an interview with the BBC.

Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple which also uses end-to-end encryption, has previously said it would be "wrong" for governments to force Apple to "build a back door" into products. But Ms Rudd said: "I would ask Tim Cook to think again about other ways of helping us work out how we can get into the situations like WhatsApp on the Apple phone."

Apple, and those that side with the company, argued last year that it would be a slippery slope to place a backdoor into iOS for the sole purpose of assisting the government in its anti-terrorism measures. The company said that a "master key" would be able to get information from any iPad and iPhone, despite the FBI saying that all it wanted was key information from the iPhone 5c at the center of the debate.

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.

A Beijing court has overturned a 2016 ruling that Apple's iPhone 6 violated a Chinese manufacturer's patent, which saw intellectual property regulators attempt to bar sale of the phone in the country (via South China Morning Post).

Last June we reported that ailing company Shenzhen Baili filed a lawsuit against Apple claiming that the iPhone 6 violated the patent of its 100c smartphone. Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, the Beijing Intellectual Property Office ruled that the iPhone did infringe on Shenzhen's patent rights, accusing Apple of having "copied" the exterior design of the 100c phone.

The Cupertino company was ordered to halt sales in Beijing completely, but an appeal at a regional patent tribunal was granted that allowed both the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to remain on sale. Today's news finally appears to have put an end to the legal dispute.

The court "quashes the decision of the bureau" and "recognises that Apple ... has not infringed the design patent filed by the company Shenzhen Baili", according to the verdict reported by the People’s Court Daily.

The Beijing court ruled that the features of the iPhone 6 "completely change[d] the effect of the entire product" and made both phones "easily distinguishable in the eyes of consumers".

The decision is likely to be another nail in the coffin for Baili, which was reported to "barely exist" even at the time of its original victory in the intellectual property office. The company, along with its parent Digione, is no longer a competitor in the Chinese smartphone market and has since collapsed, blighted by mismanagement and public criticism of its products, which were seen as poor quality.

Apple's lawyers will be relieved with today's ruling, given that Apple has been on the losing side of Chinese intellectual property lawsuits in the past. In May 2016, an "iPhone" branded leather goods maker won a lawsuit filed by Apple, after the court ruled Xintong Tiandi had registered the word as a trademark in 2007, while Apple's phones didn't go on sale in China until 2009.

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Quell & Company to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a Colony Organizer and a Leather Sleeve for their iOS and Mac devices.

The Colony Organizer, priced at $60, is essentially a charging dock for your iPhone and iPad, designed to securely and stylishly hold your devices while they charge. Made from Maple or Walnut wood, the Colony Organizer can hold up to four devices and two charging cables between its series of pegs, keeping them neatly stored away on a desk or surface while charging.

Charging cords (not included) run up through a center cutout in the organizer, and a felt base protects your devices from any scratches or damage. Micro suction pads on the base ensure that it's stable, so it's not going to fall over or slip off of your desk even when loaded with iPhones and iPads. It's compatible with the iPhone 5 and later, all Lightning-based iPads, the 12-inch MacBook, and the Apple Watch.

Quell & Company's Leather Sleeve, priced at $95, is designed to work with the 12-inch MacBook or any 9.7-inch iPad, including Apple's newly released $329 model. The Leather Sleeve, as the name suggests, is made from a high quality black leather lined with felt.

It features a zippered main pocket that fits your Apple device, along with three front pockets that can be used for other accessories like the Apple Pencil, charging cables, and even an iPhone.

Quell & Company is offering a Colony Organizer and a Leather Sleeve to three MacRumors readers, who will be able to pick the color (organizer) and size (sleeve) of their choosing. 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 (March 24) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on March 31. The winners will be chosen randomly on March 31 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.

Along with the giveaway, Quell & Company is offering an exclusive 20 percent discount on all of its products for MacRumors readers. To get the discount, enter the code "macrumors" when checking out on the site. The discount will be available for one week.

As Nintendo keeps launching new properties onto smartphones, the company has taken different strategies in regards to each app's payment model, including free-to-play (Miitomo, Fire Emblem Heroes) and pay-once-and-play (Super Mario Run). According to a senior official at the company, Nintendo actually "prefers" the Super Mario Run model over Fire Emblem Heroes, despite the more lucrative future that Fire Emblem Heroes' in-app purchases have in store for Nintendo (via Nikkei).

According to Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima, Super Mario Run's revenue "did not meet" the company's expectations. Ahead of the game's release, it was reported that Nintendo was eyeing a pay-once model so that parents could download Super Mario Run for their kids without the added anxiety of in-app purchases appearing later in their iTunes purchase history.

It appears that the gaming company still intends for most of its future apps to follow in Super Mario Run's footsteps and not those of Fire Emblem Heroes, with a senior company official referring to Heroes as "an outlier" in the grand scheme of Nintendo's mobile strategy.

Yet [Super Mario Run] was less of a moneymaker for Nintendo than might have been expected, due to the pay-once-and-play model. Revenue from the game "did not meet our expectations," Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima said.

Even so, Nintendo has no intention of switching focus to freemium games. "'Heroes' is an outlier," a senior company official said. "We honestly prefer the 'Super Mario Run' model."

The company is believed to care more about expanding the reach of its intellectual properties to a wider audience and "aims to do more with its smartphone games than make money." Another goal for Nintendo is to mine the potential synergy future apps could have with the new Switch console, where players pick up the app to get hooked, and are convinced to further explore -- and spend more money -- on a larger version of the game.

According to Nikkei, the long-term success of Super Mario Run will be measured in how well it turns new Nintendo fans into console players and buyers: "The game's true value will be measured by how much it expands the ranks of Nintendo fans and helps sales of the Switch."

Last year, Isao Moriyasu -- Chief Executive of DeNA, Nintendo's mobile app developer partner -- said that the next two Nintendo apps would be "free-to-start apps," referring to Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing, which was recently delayed. Super Mario Run is technically free-to-start as well, allowing players to mess around with a few story levels and modes before asking for the monetary investment to unlock the full game. This week, that free section was expanded slightly in the game's version 2.0 update.

In terms of payment models, the distinction between Fire Emblem Heroes and Super Mario Run is clear, and it appears that Nintendo intends to keep focused on higher-priced gaming apps instead of the more popular freemium model. Looking towards the future, we still only know that Animal Crossing is set to appear next on mobile devices, likely sometime later this year. Unfortunately, today's news muddies the waters regarding that game's payment strategy, since it's now unclear whether it will lean towards Fire Emblem Heroes' freemium model, as Moriyasu said, or be part of Nintendo's preference for a pay-once option.

Super Mario Run launched in December and saw massive launch day download numbers, but the app has since dwindled down the Top Grossing charts for the Games section of the iOS App Store, amid users raising uncertainties over its $9.99 price tag and always-online requirements. At the time of writing, Super Mario Run is the 117th game on the Top Grossing Games list, while Fire Emblem Heroes sits at the 48th spot.

Casetify, a site that specializes in custom designed iPhone and iPad cases, today debuted a collection of shine-through design cases especially curated for Apple's special edition (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, which also debuts on Friday.

In total, 60 different designs make up the collection, which includes repeating pattern designs, favorite quotes, and vector graphics, among other illustrations. Individual cases cost $40 each for both 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch handset sizes.

The cases are made in a soft polycarbonate (TPU) Classic Grip, which safeguards the phone from any accidental drops. The matte, soft-touch frame enables a soft grip, while the semi-transparent back exposes the anodized aluminum red finish of Apple's new iPhone colorway.

Using the site's design feature, or the company's mobile app, users also have the ability to create their own see-through designs, by adding photos from their computers, Instagram, or Facebook to personalize their case.

Facebook's Messenger app for iOS devices was today updated with a new Message Reactions feature, which is similar to the Tapback features introduced in Apple's Messages app in iOS 10.

Message Reactions are designed to allow Facebook users to react to a message with an emoji symbol to express an emotion without needing to type out a response. Users can choose from emoji like thumbs up, thumbs down, a sad face, an angry face, a smiling face, and more.

To add a reaction to an incoming message, press and hold on the message and choose an emoji. For those who use Apple's Messages app, this action is already familiar.

The emoji reaction is added to whichever message it's attached to in the form of a small animation. Messenger Reactions work on one on one conversations and group conversations, and can be used on text, photos, stickers, videos, and more.

Also new in Messenger is "Mentions," designed to allow users to notify someone when they've been mentioned in a conversation. This is, of course, mainly useful for group conversations that have multiple participants.

A Mention can be sent by using the "@" symbol before someone's name, and the person who has been mentioned will receive a notification.

Both Mentions and Reactions are rolling out to the Messenger app today.

Facebook Messenger for iOS can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Instagram today continued its rollout of pressure free, community-focused updates that now include a blur filter to obscure potentially sensitive content, as deemed by the Instagram review team when a particular post is reported. Instagram said that this means users are "less likely to have surprising or unwanted experiences in the app," but they can still view the image or video by simply tapping on the blurred post.

Security is getting beefed up in the new update as well, with Instagram enabling two-factor authentication for every user. As it is everywhere else, when the security measure is implemented by a user they will have to type in a code -- sent through a text message -- every time they log in to their Instagram account. Instagram said that these updates will help the app continue to move towards "fostering a safer, kinder community."

Instagram's kindness-focused hopes for its community will be represented in a worldwide meet-up happening March 25 and 26, where users everywhere can find local meet-ups "to share their stories and spread kindness in the world."

The first step is to celebrate the kindness our community is already known for. On March 25 and 26, tens of thousands of Instagrammers all over the world will come together for Worldwide InstaMeet 15 to share their stories and spread kindness in the world. You can find an InstaMeet near you or spread kindness by leaving an encouraging comment, giving an inspiring person a like or sharing a message of support with a friend.

Our teams are focused on making Instagram a kind, welcoming place for everyone, and we’re just getting started.

Earlier this week, a Bloomberg report stated that Instagram is working on a way to let users book appointments directly within the app by visiting pages of hair salons and restaurants. The move is said to be intended to take on the likes of Yelp by also adding a way for users to post reviews of businesses on their Instagram page, fostering a community of opinions to inform potential customers of the quality of the location.