Apple is reportedly aiming to push up the debut of the OLED iPhone to 2017, reportsNikkei (viaAppleInsider). The move would see Apple make the switch to OLED a year earlier than previously estimated.
In December, Apple contacted LG and Samsung about the potential to ramp up OLED production in time for the 2017 iPhone. However, the OLED technology would likely be limited to a higher-end iPhone like the 7 Plus or the rumored iPhone Pro due to possible supply constraints.
Apple, who is reportedly close to a deal with Samsung for flexible OLEDs, has been interested in using curved OLED displays in future iPhones, but Nikkei notes that Apple's accelerated development may leave those plans temporarily stalled. Apple is apparently looking to quickly switch to OLED displays to juice iPhone sales, which analysts expect to stall.
In November, Nikkeireported that Apple expected to switch to OLED displays in 2018. Apple supplier Japan Display is planning for mass production of OLED displays for iPhones beginning in early 2018. Samsung and LG, however, are expected to provide the bulk of the OLED panel production, with Samsung planning to ramp up OLED production to 45,000 panels per month this year. The ever-reliable KGI Securities Ming-Chi Kuo reported in November that Apple was unlikely to fully adopt OLED displays until 2019.
Apple's ongoing fight with the FBI over whether the company can be compelled to help the government unlock the iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook has brought the full range of Apple's privacy policies into the spotlight.
The details surrounding the case have made it clear that while Apple is unable to access information on iOS devices, the same is not true of iCloud backups. Apple can decrypt an iCloud backup and provide the information to authorities when ordered to do so via a warrant, as it did in the San Bernardino case.
In a piece posted on The Verge entitled "The iCloud Loophole," Walt Mossberg takes a look at Apple's iCloud backups and explains the reason why iCloud data can't be made as secure as data stored solely on an iPhone or iPad.
Apple is able to decrypt "most" of the data included in an iCloud backup, and an Apple official told Mossberg that's because the company views privacy and security issues differently between physical devices that can be lost and iCloud. With iCloud, it needs to be accessible by Apple so it can be used for restoring data.
However, in the case of iCloud, while security must also be strong, Apple says it must leave itself the ability to help the user restore their data, since that's a key purpose of the service. This difference also helps dictate Apple's response to law enforcement requests. The company's position is that it will provide whatever relevant information it has to government agencies with proper, legal requests. However, it says, it doesn't have the information needed to open a passcode-protected iPhone, so it has nothing to give. In the case of iCloud backups, however, it can access the information, so it can comply.
iCloud backups contain iMessages and texts, content purchase history, photos and videos, device settings, app data, voicemail password, and health data. Backups don't include information that's easily downloadable, such as emails from servers or apps, and while iCloud backup does encompass iCloud keychain, Wi-Fi passwords, and passwords for third-party services, that information is encrypted in a way that makes it inaccessible to Apple.
Mossberg suggests customers who don't want to upload data to Apple via an iCloud backup make local encrypted backups through iTunes using a Mac or PC, and he points out that other cloud storage services, like Dropbox, are no more secure.
Mossberg's full exploration of iCloud is available over at The Verge and is well worth reading for anyone interested in the security of data stored in the cloud.
Google today announced a pilot program for its "Hands Free" payment service, allowing customers in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area to pay for goods and services over Bluetooth using a photograph for confirmation.
Hands Free, as the name implies, is aimed at allowing people to make purchases without the need to pull out a phone or a wallet. It requires customers to create a profile (with photo) through the Hands Free app, available for both iOS and Android. When in a location that supports Hands Free payments, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and location services on the phone will communicate with the store's cash point-of-sale system.
When ready to make a payment, customers can say "I'll pay with Google," and the cashier will confirm the payment using the person's initials and the photo associated with the Hands Free app, both of which are displayed to the cashier on the cash register. In select locations, Google is also using a visual identification via an in-store camera to confirm identity based on the Hands Free profile picture.
As with Android Pay, Hands Free does not transmit full card details to retailers, and purchases made send notifications to the accompanying phone. Google says it sends alerts if any unusual activity is detected and suspicious transactions won't go through without approval.
Hands Free payment options are currently available at select locations in the South Bay, including McDonald's and Papa John's Pizza.
Apple's rumored 4-inch iPhone is supposed to be debuting at an event set to be held on March 21, just under three weeks from today, but due to an unusual lack of part leaks, we still have no clear picture of exactly what the device will look like.
Rumors suggest the device, said to be called the "iPhone 5se or iPhone SE," will resemble the iPhone 5s while also incorporating the curved cover glass of the iPhone 6 and 6s, a marriage difficult to imagine because those are two very different design aesthetics.
With that in mind, we've commissioned designer Tomas Moyano to create a mockup that combines the curved front panel of the iPhone 6s with the boxier, thicker shape of the iPhone 5s, ending up with an attractive design possibility that satisfies all of the current rumors.
Last week, two conceptual design drawings of the 4-inch iPhone were shared by 9to5Mac and OnLeaks, each created based on information sourced from parties with knowledge of the 4-inch iPhone's design. Neither is a direct, ultra-detailed schematic like those we have seen in the past from case makers, and the design elements of the device in the two drawings do not match up.
Adobe today updated its Lightroom photography app for iOS devices to version 2.2, adding two small but notable features. Lightroom is now able to output full resolution files for any file, whether captured directly on an iOS device or taken on a standard camera and transferred to an iPhone iPad.
Files added to an iOS device from a direct connection with a camera are also able to be transferred in full resolution to other mobile devices that are signed into the same Adobe account. According to Adobe, files captured with iPhone are available for editing and exporting on an iPad in full resolution and vice versa.
Today's update also brings improved 3D Touch support to the Lightroom app on the iPhone 6s. Peek and Pop 3D Touch gestures are available in the Camera Roll browser view, allowing users to quickly preview images in a larger size while browsing through their photo collections.
- New: Full resolution output. Now, export and share photos that were captured on your device or that you added to your device at full resolution. - Updated: 3D Touch support in the Camera Roll browser view. Quickly preview your image with Peek & Pop when browsing Camera Roll photos in the app. - Fixed: Issue that lead to a potential crash. - Improved: Various bugs and issues.
For those unfamiliar with Lightroom, it is Adobe's professional-level photo editing software. Lightroom for iOS devices is a free download, but because it is designed to work alongside the Lightroom app for the desktop, it requires a subscription to Adobe's Creative Cloud Photography plan, priced at $9.99 per month. A 30-day free trial is available.
Apple's smartphones have been released on a "tick-tock" cycle since 2008. The iPhone 6 lineup represented a "tick" year, which involved a complete design overhaul, while the iPhone 6s lineup was part of a "tock" year, which generally focused on camera and processor improvements, new features such as 3D Touch and Live Photos, and incremental refinements like faster Touch ID, LTE, and Wi-Fi.
From a distance, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s lineups look and feel like virtually identical smartphones. It is true that both models share several attributes, but the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have many features that are not included on the year-older iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. So, which one should you choose to purchase or upgrade to? What about the rumored iPhone SE and iPhone 7? Let's take a closer look.
Update: The person who submitted the screenshots and information to MacRumors has admitted that it was a hoax.
Sling TV customers who have been hoping for a tvOS app may soon be able to watch the service on their fourth-generation Apple TVs, as it appears a launch could be coming in the near future. This morning, a MacRumors reader came across a Sling TV app in the tvOS App Store, which he says "works great" after he downloaded it.
The app disappeared from the tvOS App Store shortly after he installed it, but screenshots show the app interface, complete with Sling channels to select from, and they depict the Sling TV app on the Home screen.
For those unfamiliar with Sling TV, it is an Internet-based streaming television service that's designed for cord cutters. Sling TV offers a $20 bundle of channels that can be watched live on a range of devices, from iPhones and iPads to Macs, consoles, and set-top boxes like the Amazon Fire TV and the Roku.
The third-generation Apple TV did not support Sling TV because Apple exercised strict control over the available content options, but with the fourth-generation Apple TV, Apple has loosened up its guidelines to make a much wider range of content available. With an inability to secure its own deals for a streaming television service, Apple has turned to making the tvOS App Store a way for content providers to offer a varied and rich selection of media options.
There was some speculation suggesting Apple had banned Sling from creating an Apple TV app, but a Sling representative later clarified that was not true, saying "We'd like to be on as many platforms as possible."
As recently as this morning, Sling said it had no information to divulge when questioned about the release of an Apple TV app, but the screenshots obtained this morning seem to suggest that an app is in the works and that it could be released in the near future.
The Video Electronics Standards Association yesterday formally announced its new DisplayPort 1.4 standard, setting the stage for improved video quality and color for external display connections over both DisplayPort and USB-C connectors.
Rather than an increase in actual bandwidth, the improvements in DisplayPort 1.4 come due to improved compression, taking advantage of VESA's new Display Stream Compression 1.2 standard to support High Dynamic Range (HDR) video up to either 8K resolution at 60 Hz or 4K resolution at 120 Hz.
DSC version 1.2 transport enables up to 3:1 compression ratio and has been deemed, through VESA membership testing, to be visually lossless. Together with other new capabilities, this makes the latest version of DP ideally suited for implementation in high-end electronic products demanding premier sound and image quality.
In addition to video-related improvements, DisplayPort 1.4 also expands audio capabilities with support for 32 channels, 1536kHz sample rates, and broader support for "all known" audio formats.
The approval of DisplayPort 1.4 comes even though consumers are still awaiting the arrival of devices supporting the previous DisplayPort 1.3 standard. Intel had been expected to support DisplayPort 1.3 in its current Skylake generation of chips, but the company instead opted to offer dual DisplayPort 1.2 support. As we detailed earlier this year, the lack of DisplayPort 1.3 support in Skylake could lead Apple to hold off on releasing a new 5K Thunderbolt Display until next year when chips supporting the standard become available.
Intel hasn't laid out its DisplayPort support plans beyond Skylake, so it's unknown whether the company will first move to DisplayPort 1.3 or if it can jump straight to the new DisplayPort 1.4 standard. Either way, we're unlikely to see Macs supporting DisplayPort 1.4 until 2017 at the earliest.
According to a new report from Economic Daily News (via DigiTimes), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has plans to double the output capacity of its 16nm chip production from 40,000 12-inch wafers in February to 80,000 in March. The news corroborates previous reports that suggested TSMC was ready to expand its 16nm FinFET production capacity in the second quarter of 2016, solely for the iPhone 7.
In a recent investors meeting, TSMC's co-CEO CC Wei said that the company's percentage share of the 14/16nm market is expected to increase from 40 percent in 2015 to over 70 percent in 2016. Apple isn't specifically referenced in the report today, but among TSMC's other purported 16nm customers -- Xilinx, MediaTek, HiSilicon, Spreadtrum and Nvidia -- it is one of the bigger names.
The upcoming ramp-up of 16nm production capacity will buoy TSMC's sales performance starting March, the report quoted market watchers as indicating. The foundry's 16nm FinFET processes consisting of 16FF (16nm FinFET), 16FF+ (16nm FinFET Plus) and 16FFC (16nm FinFET Compact) will generate more than 20% of its total wafer revenues in 2016.
Previous rumors around the iPhone 7 production have pointed to Apple picking TSMC to be the sole manufacturer of the smartphone's processor, presumably called the A10. The foundry was said to have won over Apple because of its 10nm manufacturing process, and a likely attempt at avoiding the dual-sourced A9 chip blowback Apple saw in the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.
Apple has made some changes to Night Shift in iOS 9.3 betas 4 and 5. The most notable change is the disabling of the feature when in Low Power Mode. The toggle switch in both the Night Shift settings and Control Center are now grayed out in Low Power Mode.
The new change has generated some complaints since it seems that users will want to use both features in the evening hours.
Night Shift is now disabled in Low Power Mode on iOS 9.3 betas
Meanwhile, tapping the Night Shift icon in Control Center no longer brings up a contextual menu with "Turn On For Now" and "Turn On Until Tomorrow" options. Instead, the toggle now manually activates Night Shift until the next trigger in your automatic schedule, such as sunset, sunrise, or a specific time.
Night Shift no longer has a contextual menu in Control Center (right)
Similarly, there is a new "Manually Enable Until Tomorrow" toggle in the Night Shift settings that keeps the feature turned on until the following morning's sunrise, or another specified time. This means the toggles in Settings and Control Center, which can also disable Night Shift, are essentially the same in this beta.
Also in the settings, the color temperature slider has also been moved to the bottom of the menu. The "Cooler" and "Warmer" labels have been changed to "Less Warm" and "More Warm," while the small blue and orange circle markers have been removed. New fine print says "warmer temperatures can reduce eye strain."
Night Shift is a major new feature in iOS 9.3 that, when enabled, automatically changes the color temperature of an iOS device's display to reflect the time of day. The feature helps to limit your exposure to blue light in the morning and night, which makes the display easier on your eyes and can improve your circadian rhythm.
Apple seeded the fifth beta of iOS 9.3 to developers and public testers on Tuesday. The software update will likely be public released this month. To read about and share other changes, head over to our iOS 9.3 Beta 5 Bug Fixes, Improvements, and Changes topic in our community discussion forums.
DxO today announced a new "dramatically enhanced stand-alone experience" for its DxO ONE camera, granting users the ability to take pictures with the miniaturized device without needing to tether it to their smartphone. The DxO ONE's OLED display helps its users line up a shot, which they can then capture easily thanks to the on-board two-stage shutter button.
The connected app allows for full customization of the camera's various settings like aperture, shutter speed, ISO, metering, and white balance. When using stand-alone mode, the DxO ONE remembers the most recent settings of the app and preserves them in the pictures taken without a smartphone. As the company explains in its press release, "For example, if you prefer to capture portraits at f/1.8, the camera will always be ready at f/1.8 when you pull it out of your pocket." In addition to the stand-alone experience, the new DxO update brings a couple of other features to the camera:
Version 1.3 also introduces a host of other features including motion blur alert, and an elegant new way to dial in white balance, metering and focus modes, which can also be viewed as overlays in the viewfinder along with your iPhone battery level. Browsing photos is faster than ever, with the gallery now sorted in the same order as in iOS Photos.
You can be sure your images were successfully shared thanks to a new visual confirmation message, and you can set a preferred JPEG compression level for photos, and bitrate for videos. Of note, an innovative Message Center now provides a direct connection to DxO, with in-app access to current information designed to help you get the most out of your DxO ONE.
The company has also unbundled DxO FilmPack and DxO OpticsPro from the package, two pieces of software that gives users a more in-depth dive into picture editing, and will sell them separately. The removal of the software has dropped the price of the DxO One by $100, so those interested can buy the camera for $499 from the company's online store.
The DxO ONE app can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
With origins on Kickstarter, the Zuli Smartplug is a device that acts as a buffer between a wall outlet and any electronic device, letting users control the connected appliance through a smartphone app. Today the company announced that it will be integrating that app with the popular Philips Hue lighting system, letting users interact with Hue lights directly within the Zuli app.
The synthesis between Zuli and Hue will also let the latter tap into the former's proprietary motion-sensing technology referred to as "Presence." With it, the Zuli Smartplug can detect when a user enters and leaves a room, adjusting and adapting to pre-set personal lighting preferences. When the room is left abandoned, the smartplug recognizes that too, and everything shuts off. Presence is designed to evolve over time and become "more predictive" with extended use.
“The fundamental problem with connected devices remains the same. You still have to pull out your phone, find the right app, find the right device, and then manually control it,” says Taylor Umphreys, Chief Executive Officer, Zuli. “Zuli is solving this problem through its proprietary Presence technology. Zuli Presence enables our homes to know who is home, what room they are in, and how they like their lighting and temperature — so our personal environments can adjust passively without the user having to do anything”
This "indoor location awareness" will now be available for Hue owners who invest in Zuli, and will give those users the ability to have all of their customized room-based scenes react to their entry into a room. The lighting systems housing the Hue bulbs do not need to be plugged directly into a Zuli Smartplug for the two to interact with one another, since Hue simply networks with Zuli after an initial system sync.
Zuli launched with another notable partnership in Nest, letting customers connect the learning thermostat to a Zuli Smartplug to notify the system when users enter and leave the house and adjust the temperature accordingly. As of now, there is no HomeKit integration or functionality with Zuli.
Hue users can test out Zuli's integration of the Philips lighting system by downloading the Zuli app [Direct Link] on the App Store. For anyone interested in all of Zuli's features, three Zuli Smartplugs are required to harness the full power of Presence. To start, users can purchase a 3-pack of the Zuli Smartplugs for $159.99 on the company's website.
A new voice search and personal assistant app called Hound debuted on iOS yesterday that apparently outperforms Siri, Google Search and Cortana in terms of speed and recognition accuracy.
Developed by the creators of music-recognition app SoundHound, the new app provides extremely fast responses to complex, nested natural language queries with highly accurate results and location-based suggestions.
Hound uses a simple single-button interface similar to the Google Search app for users to tap and ask a question. Alternatively, users can say "Ok, Hound" to initiate a query, which can broach a multitude of subjects, including weather, GPS navigation, directions, Uber, web searches, and local hotel, bar and restaurant queries.
As well as stock price, flight status, date, time, alarm and timer requests, users can also activate a Shazam-style music recognition feature called "SoundHound Now", which also responds to sung and hummed queries.
Many of the queries are already handled by Apple's voice-activated personal assistant Siri, however it is Hound's reaction speed, language translation and search accuracy that make the app particularly noteworthy, according to The Verge.
The app is so fast that it can produce near real-time translations of whole sentences in other languages, and it can spit back mounds of requested data faster than you could ever possibly glean it from Google with a keyboard.
[...]
The software's true appeal is understanding questions within questions and sussing out human context. You can give it sprawling, absurd requests nested inside other requests like, "What is the population and capitals of Japan and China, their area in square miles, and the population of India, and the area codes of France, Germany, and Spain?" and Hound will give you the information just seconds later.
The developers are apparently reluctant to disclose how the app is able to perform so well compared to competing voice-activated services. However, SoundHound CEO Keyvan Mohajer puts it down to a new "speech-to-meaning" language processing technique.
In essence, while other digital assistant software translates what you speak into text and tries to figure out what you said, Hound supposedly skips that step and deciphers your speech as it hears it.
Despite Hound's impressive abilities, iOS users will take some convincing to adopt the app in replace of Siri, which comes baked into Apple's operating system and can be voice-activated at any time without having to open an app.
Hound is a free download on the U.S. App Store and is compatible with iPhone and iPad.
Apple has expanded its real estate holdings in Sunnyvale, California with the lease of a 96,000 square foot industrial property that formerly served as a Pepsi bottling plant, reports The Silicon Valley Business Journal. Apple inked a deal for the location in November, but news of the lease has just recently surfaced and it is not clear how long Apple has been at the location.
A property lease in Sunnyvale is notable because it is rumored to be the area where Apple is working on its secret car project. Apple has several known offices at a 7-building campus at North Wolfe Road and Central Expressway in Sunnyvale and one building at the location is suspected to be a shell company serving as a front for Apple's car development efforts.
960 Kifer Road, where the former Pepsi bottling plant is located, is less than a mile away from the above-mentioned 7-building campus. According to The Silicon Valley Business Journal, it isn't known what the facility will be used for, but it is a "warehouse-type" industrial site that sits on 5 acres of land and has truck docks in the back.
City permits gave no clues about its use, as only a seismic upgrade was on file, suggesting Apple plans to use the building as is instead of redeveloping it. Apple has also previously leased an 80,000 square foot building at 1150-1170 Kifer Road, just down the street from the new location, and a 140,000 square foot building at 3689 Kifer Road, located across the street from the building at 1150 Kifer Road.
Apple is rumored to be taking on hundreds of employees to work on its car project, which could explain its rapid Bay Area expansion. Apple has also purchased a lot of space in San Jose, including an 86-acre piece of land where it can build a campus that's up to 4.5 million square feet.
Apple's head lawyer Bruce Sewell and FBI Director James Comey today testified at a U.S. congressional hearing on encryption issues, where both sides reiterated many of the same arguments that have been circulating since Apple was ordered to help the FBI unlock the iPhone used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook.
Several interesting tidbits came up throughout the testimony, which lasted for most of the day. One of the most concerning points raised at the hearing (via The Verge) covered the precedent that would be set for other countries around the world should Apple be forced to break into an iPhone in the United States.
I think the world is watching what happens in our government right now and what happens right now with this particular debate. Our ability to maintain a consistent position around the world, our ability to say we will not compromise the safety and security of any of our users around the world, is substantially weakened if we are forced to make that compromise here in our own country."
Sewell went on to say that Apple has not received similar demands for data from "any other country," but that if the company is ordered to comply, "it will be a hot minute before we get those requests from other places."
Sewell also shared an interesting tidbit on the disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370 when asked how quickly Apple is able to respond to government requests for assistance. When the flight went missing, Apple started working with officials "within one hour" to attempt to locate the plane. "We had Apple operators working with telephone providers all over the world, with the airlines, and with the FBI to find a ping," he said.
At the hearing, FBI Director James Comey testified during the first panel, while Sewell testified during the second, accompanied by Worcester Polytechnic Institute professor Susan Landau, who sided with Apple, and New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who sided with the FBI.
Comey asked the committee to consider the implications of places law enforcement can't reach. "If there are warrant-proof spaces in American life, what does that mean? What are the costs?" Comey also reiterated the FBI's position that no other agency, such as the National Security Agency, could or would provide the FBI with a tool able to break an iPhone 5c running iOS 9.
Susan Landau raised some salient questions about the FBI's available technology, suggesting the government agency needs to focus on innovating and recruiting talent to build better tools rather than asking Apple to build the software. "Instead of laws and regulations that weaken our protections, we should enable law enforcement to develop twenty-first century capabilities for conducting investigations," she said.
New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance said New York now has more than a hundred devices it would like to see unlocked, further confirming Apple's point that the argument isn't about just one iPhone. "No device or company, no matter how popular, should be able to exempt itself from court obligations unilaterally," he told the committee.
Statements from Comey, Sewell, Landau, and Vance outlining their positions are available from the Judiciary Committee website, as is a video that includes some of the testimony from the hearing. Apple and the FBI will face off at a court hearing over the iPhone issue on March 22.
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.
Spurred by industry leaders like Apple and Huawei, adoption of dual-camera or dual-lens smartphones is expected to grow significantly over the next few years. "We think the dual-cam rally is more about when than if," Morgan Stanley analyst Jasmine Lu wrote in a recent research report.
Lu believes dual cameras will catch on due to their impressive image quality and for future capabilities like 3D object mapping and depth analysis, all of which have the potential to lead to "killer apps" from smartphone manufacturers and third-party developers.
Dual cameras in the Huawei P9, image via VentureBeat
"We believe dual-cam not only helps narrow the image quality gap with SLR cameras but also allows developers to design new killer apps by leveraging in-depth analysis/mapping for 3D objects," Lu wrote. "We expect dual-cam to trigger a multiyear upgrade cycle for the optical industry."
Rumors suggest Apple is working on a version of the iPhone 7 Plus that includes dual-lens camera technology acquired in its LinX purchase last year. LinX worked on smartphone cameras with the potential to cut down on noise, boost light sensitivity, enable refocusing, and improve the level of detail in captured images, narrowing the quality gap between DSLRs and mobile device cameras.
LinX camera modules were also capable of creating detailed depth maps to create 3D models. Such capabilities in the iPhone could lead to apps that are able to do impressive things, from mapping the layout of a room for envisioning new furniture layouts to 3D scanning a real-world object for printing or manipulation purposes. New augmented and mixed reality games that merge real-world objects with virtual objects are also a possibility with that kind of technology. Apps, says Lu, are a key factor that could heavily impact the appeal of dual camera devices.
Early dual camera smartphones may not focus on advanced features like 3D depth mapping, but as dual camera adoption expands and technology improves, it is a logical direction for dual camera evolution.
Apple, with the iPhone 7 Plus, and Huawei, with the upcoming P9, are expected to be the main drivers of dual camera adoption in 2016. The iPhone 7 Plus won't be available until September, but the P9, images of which were shared this morning by VentureBeat, is expected in the first half of 2016. Rumors suggest the camera will enable features like post-capture refocus and simulated aperture adjustment.
Drone manufacturer DJI has inked a deal with Apple that will see its latest drone, the Phantom 4, available exclusively through Apple retail locations and DJI flagship stores through March 23, reports Re/code. Pre-orders are available beginning today, and brick and mortar locations are expected to have the drone in stock starting on March 15.
Apple has long sold DJI products in its retail stores, currently offering the DJI Phantom 3. The next-generation Phantom 4, priced at $1,399, includes an Obstacle Sensing System that allows the drone to detect and avoid objects in its path.
It has a magnesium core to improve rigidity without increasing weight and it has better battery life. The Phantom 4 is able to fly for 28 minutes, 25 percent longer than the Phantom 3 Professional, and it has a new TapFly mode that lets users tap on their smartphones or tablets to send the drone flying in a specific direction.
With a revamped Vision Positioning System, the Phantom 4's max effective altitude has been increased by 300 percent, and it performs better indoors. An ActiveTrack feature also allows it to stay locked on a moving target for tracking purposes, and the redesigned lens is said to "dramatically" increase sharpness.
The Phantom 4 will be available for pre-order from Apple or the DJI website starting today. Pre-orders have gone live on the DJI site but are not yet available via the Apple online store. The Phantom 4 will be in Apple retail stores on March 15, expanding to other retailers on March 23.
Apple today seeded the fifth beta of an upcoming iOS 9.3 update to developers and public beta testers for testing purposes, just over a week after seeding the fourth iOS 9.3 beta and three months after the public release of iOS 9.2, the last major update to iOS 9. iOS 9.3 has been in testing since January 11.
The fifth iOS 9.3 beta is available as an over-the-air update and through the iOS section of the Apple Developer Center (developers only).
As promised by Apple, today's update restores full navigational functionality to the Apple Pencil. In earlier betas of iOS 9.3, the Apple Pencil has been unable to be used for tasks like selecting text, scrolling, swiping between apps, accessing menus, and general editing functions in non-drawing apps. The feature removal upset many iPad Pro users, leading Apple to confirm that its absence was only temporary.
As a major .1 update to the iOS 9 operating system, iOS 9.3 introduces several new features. There's a Night Shift mode to reduce the amount of blue light iOS users are exposed to in the evening by shifting the iPad or iPhone display to a warmer (yellower) color spectrum, and there are several features designed to improve the iPad for Education program, such as multi-user login. Multi-user login, while an appealing feature, is limited to MDM customers and is not available to the general public.
Multiple apps and features are also seeing updates in iOS 9.3. Apple News includes more personalized recommendations, faster updates, a landscape view on the iPhone, and support for in-line video, while Health includes a new Apple Watch-style "Activity" view, Notes has an option to password protect individual entries, and third-party apps can add songs to Apple Music.
Apple Music for CarPlay offers "New" and "For You" sections for better music discovery, and a Nearby Feature in CarPlay Maps offers more information about what's close by. Paired with watchOS 2.2, an iPhone running iOS 9.3 is able to support multiple Apple Watches, and for iPhone 6s users, there are new Quick Actions for Weather, Settings, Compass, Health, App Store, and iTunes Store.
The second iOS 9.3 beta added a Control Center toggle for the Night Shift feature, while the third iOS 9.3 beta focused on fixing bugs and added Verizon Wi-Fi calling.
What's new in iOS 9.3 beta 5
Night Shift Control Center toggle - The Night Shift toggle in the Control Center no longer has a pop up menu with options to "Turn On For Now" or "Turn On Until Tomorrow. The button's function is now simpler, turning Night Shift on and off on demand.
Apple's 
Apple today seeded the fifth beta of an upcoming iOS 9.3 update to developers and public beta testers for testing purposes, just over a week after seeding the 
