Most shop tills in the U.K. that take Apple Pay now accept mobile payments above £30, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. Jennifer Bailey, head of Apple's payment arm, said over half of contactless payment terminals in the country are now able to take Apple Pay transactions of any value.
Previously, most contactless card readers have adhered to the £30 upper limit, which is meant to prevent fraud when a pin isn't used. However, Apple's Touch ID approval system on iPhones and iPads provides the extra security to enable payments of any value.
The upgrades, which Ms Bailey said applied to hundreds of thousands of terminals, means shoppers in many places can make payments of any value without taking their wallet with them.
Apple Pay's ability to approve high-value payments could turn out to be a significant advantage over contactless cards, following some reports that mobile payments have struggled to gain traction among consumers. The mobile wallet also has to compete against rivals Android Pay and Samsung Pay.
However, Apple says Apple Pay transactions in the U.K. have grown by 300 percent in the last year, with 23 banks now supporting the service. "Our momentum has been fantastic. We're really excited about the progress," Bailey told the Telegraph.
Retailers in the U.K. now accepting the higher-value payments include supermarkets such as Waitrose and Sainsbury's, and restaurants including Pizza Express and Nando's.
Apple has the potential to become a trillion dollar company by 2019, according to RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani.
In a research note on Monday, Daryanani said Apple could reach or exceed a trillion dollar market cap within the next 12 to 18 months.
An excerpt from Daryanani's research note, edited slightly for clarity:
In aggregate, we see a scenario where in the 2019 fiscal year, Apple sustains $12+ earnings per share and, assuming the valuation frameworks remains stable/improves, it should get AAPL stock toward $192–$195, which would equate to a market cap above $1 trillion.
Daryanani believes the so-called "iPhone 8" and the upgrade supercycle it's expected to drive will be a major catalyst towards Apple's path to a trillion dollar valuation. Looking further ahead, he thinks there is potential for Apple to continue growing its Services category revenue by double digits year over year.
Longer-term, we think there is potential for Apple to continue growing Services revenue by double digit year-over-year given the company's expanding installed base [of devices], increasing App Store sales within the current installed base, demand for cloud storage/compute services, and further adoption of Apple Pay.
Apple's Services category brought in $7.17 billion last quarter, from $6 billion in the year-ago quarter, representing 18 percent year-over-year growth. Apple CEO Tim Cook said the Services category is already the size of a Fortune 100 company, with hopes to double the category's revenue by 2020.
Earlier this month, Apple's market cap surpassed the $800 billion mark for the first time ever as the company's shares traded above $153. RBC has raised its Apple stock price target to $168, up from $157, given the upside it anticipates from the iPhone 8 and increasing services-related revenue.
Wall Street analyst Brian White also raised his 12-month price target for Apple's stock to $202, up from $185, earlier this month. White believes Apple "remains among the most underappreciated stocks in the world," and his bullish price target suggests the company could be valued at a trillion dollars within the next year.
Since launching in June 2015, Apple Music has offered a free three-month trial in the United States and over 100 other countries around the world. In some countries, such as Ireland and the Netherlands, the free trial is for one month.
The reason why Apple has started charging a nominal fee for the trial in Australia, Spain, and Switzerland is unclear. The trial was still free in those countries as of May 14, according to archived versions of Apple's website.
Apple Music rival Spotify's three-month trial also costs 99 cents in Australia, 0,99 € in Spain, and Fr. 0.99 in Switzerland. Keep in mind that Spotify's trial also costs 99 cents in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere.
This week, Microsoft took the unusual step of pushing out a redesigned version of OneNote for Mac and iOS ahead of its release on Windows and Android. The update to the note-taking platform introduces a new interface that aims to enhance usability for users of assistive technologies, simplify navigation controls, and create consistency across devices, according to the company.
Microsoft said it has listened to user feedback to learn how it could improve the navigational layout of the note-taking apps, especially for larger digital notebooks with more sections. As a result, the new interface places all navigation panes in one collapsible area on the left-hand side of the app, instead of having menus for notebooks and sections/pages on either side of the window.
This allows users to easily switch between their notes and dramatically improves usability with assistive technologies. With the new consolidated and simplified design, screen readers can easily navigate through the app to help those with disabilities. In addition, content is front and center—helping students to focus and avoid distractions.
To switch to any other page or section, users can click its name in the navigation panes, or Control-click the name of any page or section and then choose from more options. To open a different notebook, users can click the Show Notebooks button and select it in the list, while options for creating new notebooks/sections/pages now appear at the bottom of the associated navigation panes. On Mac, each pane can also be resized by moving the mouse pointer over the vertical edge and click-dragging it.
The new design philosophy also brings greater interface consistency across Mac, iPhone, and iPad, enabling users to transition between devices quickly and easily, which Microsoft hopes will benefit those with visual impairments and also help in learning environments where device variety is increasingly common.
OneNote for Mac is freely available on the Mac App Store [Direct Link]; likewise OneNote for iOS is a free download on the App Store [Direct Link] The overhauled interface has also been applied to Microsoft's web app. Windows and Android versions are expected to roll out in the coming weeks.
A rare working Apple-1 computer that was built in Steve Jobs' garage has been sold at auction in Germany for over $130,000 (via news24).
The highly sought-after vintage computer auctioned off in Cologne on Saturday was one of just 200 that the late Apple co-founder and Steve Wozniak designed and marketed in 1976.
The owner John Dryden, a Californian software engineer, admitted that finally parting with the machine was difficult. "(The Apple 1) was one of the first opportunities for someone to possess a real computer," he said. "I'd been working with computers for a while but they were huge."
The Apple-1 was sold with the original receipt for the motherboard and cassette recorder, an operating manual, and even notes of telephone conversations between Dryden and Wozniak from 1977. Apple never offered an external housing for the computer, while the power supply, keyboard, monitor, and cassette recorder had to be obtained separately by the owner.
This machine was actually expected to fetch significantly more than it did this weekend, after an Apple-1 sold for a record $905,000 at a Bonhams auction in New York in October 2014. More recently, a unique "celebration" model went for $815,000 at a CharityBuzz auction in August of last year.
Breker's auction house, which hosted the sale and specializes in technical antiques, put the lower price down to a settling of Apple "hype", now coming over five years after the death of Steve Jobs. The winning bidder was a German engineer who collects old computers.
The 8K machine, which originally sold for $666 over 40 years ago, is one of just eight still in working order. There are thought to be only around 50 to 60 Apple-1 computers still in existence.
The program expired on December 31, 2016, but it's still in effect for eligible models up to four years from their original date of sale.
A support document on Apple's website says the affected models were sold between February 2011 and December 2013. Use the "Check Your Coverage" tool on Apple's website to determine if a particular model is eligible.
The video issues impacted many customers, prompting a class-action lawsuit against Apple and an online petition with over 40,000 signatures. Affected users often experience visual banding or malfunctions on the screen, particularly when watching HD videos or using pro apps such as Final Cut Pro X.
Apple will continue to repair Mid 2012 or Early 2013 models, free of charge. Affected customers can call an Apple Store to schedule a Genius Bar appointment, visit an Apple Authorized Service Provider, or call Apple Support and request a postage paid box to mail in the MacBook Pro to a local Apple Repair Center.
Popular entertainment social network Musical.ly is in talks with media companies including Viacom and NBCUniversal to make original programming, according to people familiar with the matter (via Bloomberg).
The company is said to be seeking content for its music video sharing platform that is "participatory and interactive" rather than feeling heavily produced, with a view to broadening its appeal beyond music, to potentially include comedy and sports.
Founded in August 2014, Musical.ly has surged in popularity among U.S. teenagers, and claims over 100 million users globally. The app allows users to filter, edit, and broadcast short video clips with song snippets, some of which are provided by Apple Music as part of a licensing deal in exchange for promoting the streaming service within the app. The Shanghai company also owns live streaming app Live.ly, group video chat Squad, and video messaging app Pingpong.
Musical.ly follows Facebook, Snap, Twitter, YouTube, and Apple in the race to produce original video programming online, with digital companies seeking to aggressively compete in the growing digital media market.
NBCUniversal has already partnered with Musical.ly for the 2017 Billboard Latin Music Awards and is reportedly in talks with the startup to develop more Hispanic-focused entertainment. Hearst's Seventeen magazine also recently announced its intention to make a video series focused on fashion and beauty for Musical.ly.
In related news, Musical.ly is set to launch a new feature next week that will allow users to create face masks, similar to the lenses or filters used on Snapchat and now Instagram, according to the people who spoke to Bloomberg. Called Face.ly, the feature will be like Bitmoji, which lets users create animated avatars of themselves. The long-term plan involves Face.ly becoming a separate app, if the feature proves popular with teens.
Apple is planning to unveil its next-generation operating system for iOS devices, iOS 11, in less than a month. Despite the imminent debut date of the new OS, we've heard very little about what we should expect to see in the update.
Based on the fact that iOS 10 offered very few features for the iPad, Federico Vittici of MacStories, who uses an iPad for much of his daily work, has imagined an iOS 11 update wishlist that overhauls the iPad interface, introducing new iPad-only features that many pro users would undoubtedly love to see.
Vittici collaborated with designer Sam Beckett to bring his iOS 11 wishlist to life, providing concrete examples of ways Apple could redesign the iPad experience.
System-wide drag and drop functionality that would let users drag content between apps or from one iPad split screen window to another is at the top of Vittici's list. Images, text, links, documents, and more could be dragged using intuitive long press gestures. In the example image below, text from an email is dragged into a list in Reminders.
An imagined "Shelf" feature goes hand-in-hand with drag and drop, giving users a place to store anything on the iPad they want to reference at a later time. It's similar to the desktop on a Mac, storing items for easy access.
Viticci's other iOS 11 wishlist items include a new Split View app picker with a search feature and a better layout, a Mac-style Finder app that works with iCloud Drive for a more consistent document-finding interface, a denser home screen, multiple audio streams, and a refreshed design with bolder typography and more of a focus on visual feedback.
For additional images and a more detailed explanation of the items on Vittici's iOS 11 wishlist, make sure to check out the full article over at MacStories.
Earlier this month, Apple launched a new "How to Shoot on iPhone 7" website and video series featuring short tutorials designed to help users take advantage of the camera features built into the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus.
As of yesterday, four new tutorial videos have been added to the site, including how to shoot a horizon, how to capture an intimate moment, how to convert to black and white, and how to shoot with zoom on the iPhone 7 Plus. All four can be watched on Apple's tutorial site, but the latter two are also available on YouTube.
Apple has 20 tutorial videos on its "How to Shoot on iPhone 7" website, and the company is slowly uploading each of the videos to YouTube. 13 of the 20 videos can be watched on Apple's YouTube channel. New YouTube additions include how to shoot a one-handed selfie and how to edit a selfie, two videos previously exclusively available on the tutorial site.
Apple's videos are designed to teach iPhone 7 and 7 Plus users how to use the iPhone camera to capture various kinds of photos, including panoramas, portraits, action shots, night shots, and more. Each of the videos is approximately 40 seconds in length and includes a clear step-by-step tutorial on how to use each feature.
Most of the videos are simple and straightforward, designed for people who don't often use the camera and haven't invested a lot of time in learning its features, but there are some neat tips and tricks that even more advanced users might find useful, like capturing a unique angle, shooting with a street light, capturing stills while filming, and more.
Like all of Pad & Quill's leather goods, the components of the desk set, which are available in three colors, are made from premium American Full Grain Leather, complete with hand-pounded copper rivets and parachute grade stitching for durability. Each piece is artisan made and personally signed by the artisan who crafted it, guaranteeing that each item is well-crafted and unique.
The Large Leather Desk Pad is designed to be the centerpiece of the desk set, and it's large enough to accommodate a MacBook Pro or a standard computer keyboard. It features two pen holders and a suede backing so it stays in place on the desk, plus there's a layer of neoprene to make it an ideal writing surface.
A matching Leather Mouse Pad also features a built-in pen, and the accompanying Small Leather Desk Tray can hold an iPhone or other small accessories, while the Large Leather Desk Tray can hold a notebook or tablet. Both trays have a cord window for device charging.
For iPad Pro users, the desk set comes with a Wooden Apple Pencil Holder, made from walnut. It can be used with an Apple Pencil placed vertically or horizontally, and there's also an Apple Pencil charging adapter holder built in.
The full desk set is normally priced at over $400, but it's on sale for $365 as part of a limited time launch. We have one of the complete desk sets to give away to a MacRumors reader. 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 MacRumorsFacebook 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 (May 19) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on May 26. The winner will be chosen randomly on May 26 and will be contacted by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before a new winner is chosen.
Hey everyone! I'm Eli Hodapp, and I serve as Editor in Chief over at MacRumors' sister-site TouchArcade. If you haven't heard of us before, we're the largest iOS-exclusive gaming site out there. We post daily news, reviews, previews, and more, covering the latest and greatest in the world of mobile gaming. We regularly stream iOS games on Twitch, and we've got our own forums which are packed with iOS gamers and developers discussing both new and upcoming games. Also, if you're into the whole Discord chat thing, we've got a great Discord server which is similarly packed with people talking about mobile gaming around the clock.
If you're a podcast person, The TouchArcade Show is a weekly podcast we publish every Friday. iOS gaming is way more than Clash of Clans and Candy Crush, and through these weekly roundups we hopefully aim to keep you tuned in to the big news items of the week, as well as some great new games to check out. If any of this seems interesting you, I encourage you to get involved in the TouchArcade community by following any of the above links, as these new weekly roundups here at MacRumors are just a taster and there's a lot more where this came from.
Russian software company ElcomSoft today claimed in a blog post that iCloud notes marked as deleted are being stored on Apple's servers well past the advertised 30-day period they are kept in the "Recently Deleted" folder.
ElcomSoft said it used an updated version of its Phone Breaker tool, version 6.5, to recover dozens of iCloud notes deleted more than a month ago. ElcomSoft said many of the notes were deleted a few weeks past the 30-day window, but in some cases, it was allegedly able to extract notes deleted "several months ago."
When a user deletes a note in Apple's Notes app, it's moved to the "Recently Deleted" folder, which explicitly states that "notes are permanently deleted after 30 days." Likewise, a support document on Apple's website says users can view and recover notes for up to 30 days before they're permanently deleted.
However, ElcomSoft CEO Vladimir Katalov said the oldest note it was able to retrieve was deleted around five years ago:
"We did it again," says Vladimir Katalov, ElcomSoft CEO. "After recovering deleted photos and Safari browsing history from iCloud, we now add the ability to recover deleted notes from the same source regardless of how much time has passed after the deletion. The oldest record we've been able to pull was deleted back in 2012."
In its blog post, ElcomSoft said it was able to extract 334 notes from an iPhone with only 288 notes stored on it, including those in the "Recently Deleted" folder. In other words, ElcomSoft claims it was able to recover 46 notes deleted more than 30 days ago, and that was only one example.
Nevertheless, ElcomSoft said that its ability to extract iCloud notes deleted more than 30 days ago is "not necessarily" guaranteed. "While some of our test accounts did indeed contain deleted notes going all the way back to 2015, some other accounts contained much less than that," it explained.
ElcomSoft said its Phone Breaker tool is the only software it knows of that can be used to recover iCloud notes deleted more than 30 days ago. It also said the latest version of its Phone Viewer tool is needed to view them. The tools start at $79 each and appear to be compatible with both Mac and Windows.
To extract and view deleted notes, ElcomSoft says all someone has to do is launch Phone Breaker version 6.5 or newer, click "Download Synced Data from iCloud," authenticate with an Apple ID and password or a binary authentication token, wait for the download to complete, and open the file in Phone Viewer.
ElcomSoft's Phone Viewer tool appears to show recovered iCloud notes
ElcomSoft said "there is no doubt Apple will fix the current issue," but it didn't confirm if it has been in contact with the company. MacRumors has opted not to use the Phone Breaker tool out of an abundance of caution. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment today.
Last year, ElcomSoft generated headlines when it claimed Apple "secretly" syncs Phone and FaceTime call history logs on iCloud, even with backups turned off. In a statement, Apple said it offers call history syncing "as a convenience to our customers so that they can return calls from any of their devices."
In February, ElcomSoft also found that iCloud was allegedly storing deleted Safari browser history for a long period of time, ranging from several months to over a year. Forbes reported that Apple quietly "started purging older history records" once the news broke, but Apple never officially commented.
Apple today gave the iTunes Movies storefront a small visual overhaul to coincide with the digital home release of The LEGO Batman Movie, which will debut on DVD and Blu-Ray on June 13.
With the update, the iTunes Movies carousel has a collection of films on sale for a limited time, and with a LEGO-themed visual twist. These include previous DC universe movies like Batman Begins (HD $4.99), The Dark Knight (HD $7.99), The Dark Knight Rises (HD $7.99), Man of Steel (HD $7.99), and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (HD $9.99), most of which get shout-outs within The LEGO Batman Movie.
The theme and sale extends to the early Batman movies, as well, including Tim Burton's original Batman (HD $7.99) and Batman Returns (HD $7.99), and Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever (HD $7.99) and Batman & Robin (HD $7.99).
The LEGO theme goes beyond the iTunes Movies carousel, and even includes LEGO figures and art on some of the films' main iTunes pages, including for Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman. Those interested in the actual The LEGO Batman Movie can purchase the film in HD for $19.99, or opt for a two-movie bundle that includes the original The LEGO Movie for $24.99.
There are a handful of non-superhero movies with sale prices and a LEGO makeover on iTunes today as well, including The Wizard of Oz (HD $7.99), Gremlins (HD $7.99), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (HD $7.99), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (HD $7.99), and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (HD $9.99). As with the superhero movies, all of these films have characters that make cameos of some kind within The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Batman Movie.
Apple yesterday held a concert at One Infinite Loop in honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day. This morning, CEO Tim Cook tweeted out a thank you to Stevie Wonder, who performed at the concert.
The event marked one of Apple's traditional "Beer Bash" celebrations, which in the past have seen performances by Maroon 5, One Republic, Darius Rucker, and more, usually coinciding with a major milestone like the 30th anniversary of the Macintosh.
Apple has been highlighting the importance of accessibility features throughout the week, beginning with a large collection of "Designed for" promotional videos that it posted on YouTube on Tuesday. The clips showcased features like VoiceOver and Made for iPhone hearing aids, accompanied by personal stories of how Apple fans with disabilities use each feature.
On Wednesday, Tim Cook then sat down with three accessibility activists to discuss the company's accessibility features across its range of devices. Last October, Apple published an all-new accessibility website that brings all of these features to the forefront as a way to explain and celebrate how the company has built unique accessibility features into iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch.
Ford today released a SYNC 3 software update that adds CarPlay and Android Auto support to its 2016 model year vehicles.
Ford said customers with Wi-Fi-enabled vehicles can set up their vehicle to receive the update automatically. SYNC 3 version 2.2 can also be downloaded from the Ford Owner website and installed with a USB drive, or customers can visit any Ford dealership to have the update process completed for free.
Last summer, Ford made CarPlay and Android Auto available in all of its 2017 vehicles with SYNC 3. At the time, it promised it would bring CarPlay and Android Auto to its 2016 model year vehicles by the end of the year, and while it missed that target by about five months, the update has now arrived.
In late 2015, Ford retroactively added Siri Eyes Free support to 5 million 2011-2016 model year vehicles.
CarPlay brings Maps, Phone, Messages, Music, Podcasts, and a number of third-party apps like Spotify to a vehicle's dashboard. Apple's in-car software can be controlled with Siri and a vehicle's built-in controls for convenient access to common iPhone features. It's compatible with iPhone 5 and later.
After its first sports-related streams went live early last year, focusing on soccer and hockey, Facebook this week has made inroads into two new categories that will bring fans of eSports and baseball both live and on-demand content (via The Wall Street Journal).
Facebook already had deals with five eSports teams who published live and on-demand videos to the platform, but this week the company made a bigger deal with ESL, originally known as the Electronic Sports League, an organizer of eSports competitions. For those unfamiliar, eSports coverage follows players throughout a variety of competitive-focused video games, most popularly including titles like StarCraft II, Counter-Strike, League of Legends, and Overwatch, among others.
In a blog post announcing the deal, ESL confirmed that fans will be able to watch all IEM and ESL One events in up to six different languages, and a few national championship and online leagues, on ESL Facebook pages. The partnership is also bringing an exclusive new weekly show to Facebook that will allow viewers to comment and interact with the video stream while "highlighting up and coming players."
In total there will be 30 hours of weekly ESEA Rank S streams, a weekly half hour show hosted by Mark “Boq” Wilson, and more coming down the line. The broadcasts will start in June with the Counter-Strike-focused Rank S matches, and eventually grow to include videos of player interviews, competition commentary, and more all streamed on Facebook.
Currently, the most popular destinations for ESL-backed matches are Twitch and YouTube. Notably, the deal with Facebook is said to not interfere with ESL posting and streaming on other platforms simultaneously. Still, Facebook is said to be looking to build an "ecosystem" of game streams that convince gamers to tune into the social network over its live streaming rivals.
Facebook Inc. is paying professional videogame teams and others in the esports industry to post videos on the social network, part of a shift in strategy to deliver more-premium programming to the company’s nearly two billion monthly users.
Under the deals signed with Facebook, esports partners must produce a minimum number of hours of video for the social network, and in most cases the partners are allowed to simultaneously publish to rival platforms such as Amazon.com Inc.’s Twitch. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
In addition, Facebook and Major League Baseball have announced a deal of their own that will bring 20 live-streamed Friday night MLB games to Facebook during the 2017 season, located on MLB's Facebook page. The games will be free for any United States-based Facebook user, and the first game will broadcast tonight, May 19, with the Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds facing off.
Facebook has long been pushing into video content, from setting the groundwork by testing autoplay videos with sound in its mobile app, to most recently gearing up to debut original TV shows directly within the social network. Over time, Facebook's move to more "premium" video content is said to gradually gain precedence over live and recorded video from users.
People scrolling through Facebook’s news feed are more likely to watch polished videos with audio turned on, making them potentially lucrative vehicles for ads, analysts say. Such content increasingly will appear in news feeds over off-the-cuff live videos from users, as Facebook wants to be seen as a hub for long-form video.
Streaming and on-demand video is becoming an area of interest for other social networks besides Facebook, with Snapchat recently being rumored to launch a collection of 3-5 minute TV shows within its mobile app. Twitter has been the home of sports, news, and entertainment video streams for a while now, and most recently revealed plans to launch a full, always-on network of news shows in partnership with Bloomberg.
A new report on Friday added support to the claim that Apple is facing higher component costs for this year's highly anticipated OLED iPhone, which some analysts believe will carry a "premium" price tag compared to previous models.
The 3D Touch module in the redesigned handset will cost 150 percent more than the equivalent parts in LCD-based iPhones, according to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News. Touch panel manufacturer TPK charges between $7 and $9 per unit for 3D Touch parts in the existing iPhone range, but that price will double for the new model to between $18 and $22, claimed the paper.
The hike in price is said to be down to the fact that, in contrast to LCD screens, OLED displays require a separate protective glass bonding on both the front and rear of the panel before the 3D Touch sensors can be applied.
For 3D Touch solution used in existing iPhone series, TPK and fellow maker General Interface Solution (GIS) quote US$7-9 per smartphone. The solution directly bonds 3D Touch sensors on LTPS TFT-LCD display panels of the iPhone, but 3D Touch solution for OLED panels entails bonding of a glass cover on the front and back side of an OLED panel each to reinforce the fragile OLED panel.
The processing cost for the OLED-based 3D Touch solution is reportedly only 50 percent more than the LCD-based solution, but Apple suppliers TPK and GIS are said to be quoting three times that. The reason appears to be down to TPK's bargaining position, bolstered by the fact that the company has passed official certification for the OLED-based solution.
Variously referred to as "iPhone 8", "iPhone Pro" and "iPhone X" by media outlets, the tenth anniversary edition model could cost upwards of $1,000, according to one report claiming knowledge of Apple's plans. The premium tier device is expected to feature a radical redesign with a flat edge-to-edge screen which is more expensive to produce.
In addition, a virtual home button, a 3D-sensing front-facing camera, a vertically oriented rear dual-lens camera, and some form of wireless charging are also expected to feature, along with fingerprint, face, and iris recognition, all of which will likely drive up the price because of the intricate manufacturing processes involved. The handset is rumored to be launching in September alongside more typical "S" cycle iPhone models to succeed the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, although shortages of the premium model could potentially occur due to delayed production.
Encrypted messaging platform Telegram received a significant update today, bringing video messaging, bot payments, and other new features to the chat app.
In version 4.0 of Telegram, users can activate video messaging with a tap of the mic icon to switch to camera mode, or tap and hold the icon to record a quick video clip. Swiping up while recording enables handsfree mode, which works with voice notes too. Users can also stop and replay the clip before sending.
In addition, chat bots can now accept payments, with the developers saying that users will soon be able to order pizza, shop for clothes, and potentially pay their utility bills using Telegram bots.
Also included in the update is a new Instant View feature, which is similar to Google's AMP platform. Essentially it enables users to view articles directly from within the Telegram app, and comes with the added ability to create article previews using the Instant View Editor.
Lastly, Telegram has also announced a new service called Telesco.pe that lets anyone watch video messages from public Telegram channels.
Telegram is a free download for iPhone and iPad from the App Store. [Direct Link]
Apple has the potential to become a trillion dollar company by 2019, according to RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani.
Apple says the following models are no longer eligible for its MacBook
