MacRumors

Verizon customers planning on upgrading to the iPhone SE or another new smartphone should do so sooner rather than later, as the U.S.'s largest carrier has outlined plans to introduce a new $20 upgrade fee starting next week.

Beginning next Monday, April 4, a new $20 flat rate charge will be applied to smartphones purchased on a Device Payment financing plan, or at full retail price, according to a leaked internal memo obtained by MacRumors.

The same $20 premium will also apply to customers taking advantage of Apple's new iPhone Upgrade Program. Verizon cites "increasing support costs associated with customers switching their devices" as a reason for the new fees.

The new upgrade fees will impact all consumer accounts, as well as business accounts without an ECPD profile. Verizon's existing $40 upgrade fee for customers renewing a two-year contract with a new device remains in place.

The new $20 upgrade fee will be charged at the point of sale through direct Verizon sales channels, while the fee will be added to the customer's next bill when the smartphone is purchased through an indirect reseller.

AT&T similarly charges $15 per smartphone added or upgraded with AT&T Next, and "bring your own" devices. Sprint also charges an upgrade or activation fee up to $36 per device. T-Mobile does not have upgrade fees.

After a soft launch in Japan earlier this month, Nintendo's first app designed for iOS devices, Miitomo, is available for download in the United States and other countries.

Miitomo is a free-to-play social-based app that allows players to create and customize avatars known in the Nintendo world as Miis. Using their Mii, players can chat with one another through the Miitomo app and play mini games. The goal is to earn coins and tickets to work towards purchasing new outfits for one's Mii while also answering questions and creating Mii photos, with that information being shared with friends.

Players are also able to use the app to earn My Nintendo rewards that can be exchanged for discounts on Nintendo's line of 3DS and Wii U games and console themes, which will be the main incentive to pick up Miitomo. My Nintendo is Nintendo's new rewards program, replacing the rewards program that it eliminated last year.

Our sister site TouchArcade tried the Japanese version of Miitomo and shared some early thoughts on the app.

So how is it? Well, it's more or less as it was described to us before. You start off by creating or importing a Mii. You then assign a voice and personality to it before moving on. From there, you'll be directed to answer your first question, which in my case was concerning my favorite food. After that, you can tinker around and do what you like. So far, that doesn't involve much more than buying clothes, dressing up my Mii, or answering more questions.

I've earned some Game Tickets, which I can use to play a simple pachinko-style mini-game to try and win new outfits. The other currencies include coins for buying new clothes at the shop, and a mysterious "candy" item that I can't find a use for. Almost everything you do will earn you coins, and the game gives you a bunch up front to set up your initial outfit.

Nintendo plans to release additional games for smartphones in the future, following its first experiment with Miitomo. Not all games will be freemium like Miitomo - Nintendo has said some will be "pay to download."

Miitomo can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Despite its much-publicized problems, Apple's iOS 9.3 is showing a lower crash rate than all active iOS builds, an app analytics firm reported yesterday (via AppleInsider).

According to California-based Apteligent, over the past eight days iOS 9.3 has had a crash rate of only 2.2 percent, making it the most stable iOS release in circulation. Apple's new iOS also beat the latest version of Android, which had a reported crash rate of approximately 2.6 percent.

By contrast, iOS 8, iOS 9 and iOS 9.2 have all fared worse over the month of March, with crash rates of 3.2 percent meaning their users were more likely to experience problems than early adopters of Apple's latest mobile OS iteration.

The study will come as a surprise to many, following media coverage of issues reported by a number of iOS users. Apple is aware of an issue causing web links to crash in multiple iOS apps like Safari, Mail, and Messages, and says it is working on a fix that will be released "soon" via a software update.

The bug was the second major bug to affect iOS 9.3 users. The first rendered some older devices unusable due to a problem with Activation Lock, which required customers to enter the information originally used to set up their iPhone or iPad. Apple released a new version of iOS 9.3 on Monday to fix the issue.

The FBI has agreed to help an Arkansas prosecutor unlock an iPhone and iPod that belong to two teenagers accused of killing a couple, reports the Associated Press. The move comes days after the FBI announced that it had unlocked the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone.

Faulkner County Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland said the FBI agreed to the request from his office and the Conway Police Department Wednesday afternoon. A judge on Tuesday agreed to postpone the trial of 18-year-old Hunter Drexler so prosecutors could ask the FBI for help. Drexler's trial was moved from next week to June 27.

Hiland said the FBI agreed to help less than a day after the initial request was made. "We always appreciate their cooperation and willingness to help their local law enforcement partners," Hiland said. Patrick Benca, Drexler's attorney, said he was notified the FBI agreed to help and that he was "not concerned about anything on that phone."

The prosecuting attorney said that they had heard the FBI had been able to unlock the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone and wanted to see if they could help, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Drexler, along with 15-year-old Justin Staton, are accused of killing Robert and Patricia Cogdell last July. The couple raised Staton as their grandson. After the two teens were arrested in Texas and brought to Arkansas shortly after the shootings, prosecutors gained possession of Drexler's iPhone. Last week, Staton's defense attorney was ordered to hand over his iPod, which was in the defense attorney's evidence locker.

Prosecutors argue that Staton had indicated on phone calls that he had used his iPod to communicate about the murders and that further evidence might be on the device. It’s unclear which iPhone and iPod the suspects used and which iOS version they’re running.

An FBI official told the LA Times that the FBI is unlikely use the tool that was used to unlock the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone for criminal prosecutions because the method could be discovered during a trial. Furthermore, the method used to unlock that phone might not work with other phones, according to the official.

“In a criminal case, if the FBI uses a technique, there’s going to be questions about divulging that technique or chain of custody to the defense," Eric Crocker, Electronic Frontier Foundation staff attorney, told the LA Times. "So my instinct is this might be something different.”

Last week, shortly after the Department of Justice said that it discovered a "possible method" for unlocking the San Bernardino shooter's device, it was reported that the FBI enlisted Israeli firm Cellebrite to unlock it.

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.

With the iPhone SE now available in several countries, the first teardown of the device has been conducted by Chipworks. As expected, the device uses a hodgepodge of components sourced from several past iPhones, including the iPhone 5, 6, and 6s, leading Chipworks to say "this is not your typical Apple release."

There are very few new parts, but that hardly means there is no innovation. As is the genius of Apple and its fearless leader, Mr. Cook, it is the combination of all the right parts that make a successful product. Finding that just-right balance of old and new, and at such a low cost, is no easy feat.

The processor inside the iPhone SE is indeed the same A9 processor found in the iPhone 6s, and the part in the iPhone SE Chipworks took apart was labeled with an APL1022 part number from a TSMC facility. It includes SK Hynix memory, which Chipworks says is likely the same 2GB LPDDR4 DRAM module found in the iPhone 6s.

The date codes might actually tell a story: the decapped application processor chip is dated 1535, Aug/Sep last year, so it was sitting in inventory for a while; the memory is 1549, last December; and presumably the whole package-on-package was assembled this year at the end of January.

The NFC chip is the NXP 66V10, the same used in the iPhone 6s, and the 6-axis sensor is from InvenSense and was also used in the iPhone 6s.

The Qualcom MDM9625M modem and the accompanying transceiver were originally found in the iPhone 6, and the Audio ICs, which Chipworks thinks were designed by Cirrus Logic, came from the iPhone 6s.

While many parts were originally from the iPhone 6 or 6s, the touch screen controller components (Broadcom BCM5976 and Texas Instruments 343S0645) were originally used in the iPhone 5s.

There are a few new components in the iPhone SE, including a "338S00170 device," which Chipworks says is "very likely a new Apple/Dialog power management IC," along with a Skyworks SKY77611 power amplifier module, a 16GB Toshiba NAND flash module, an EPCOS D5255 antenna switch module, and an AAC Technologies microphone.

Additional information about the iPhone SE will come out as Chipworks continues on with its teardown and as other companies like iFixit conduct their own device teardowns. The iPhone SE will be available in the United States starting tomorrow, March 31.

It's just after 9:30a.m. in New Zealand, which means the first customers who ordered an iPhone SE or a 9.7-inch iPad Pro on March 24 are starting to receive their shipments. Soon, customers in Australia will begin receiving their devices, and the first Apple retail stores in the country will open for in-store sales.

New Zealanders have already started photos and news of their devices on social networks like Instagram, reddit, and Twitter, and a few lucky customers who ordered the 9.7-inch iPad Pro in the United States have also been receiving early shipments, as noted on Instagram, Twitter, and the MacRumors forums.

As March 31 hits around the world, the iPhone SE and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro will be available in first wave launch countries that include Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Singapore, the UK, US Virgin Islands, and the US. Retail stores in these countries will be opening at approximately 9:00 a.m. local time, letting customers make walk-in purchases.

Customers in these countries who already placed an order for a new device will begin receiving those devices as soon as shipping outlets begin work in the morning, likely around 8:00 a.m. local time. Following deliveries in Australia and New Zealand, customers in Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Singapore will receive their devices, followed by deliveries in France, Germany, and the UK, and then orders will arrive in Canada, the US, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.

In the United States, pre-order customers living on the east coast should begin receiving their shipments starting at 8:00 a.m. local time from couriers like FedEx and UPS in approximately 18 hours. Orders set to arrive on March 31 have already shipped from Apple using Next Day shipping.

Big box retailers like Walmart, Target, and Best Buy will begin in-store sales of the iPhone SE and 9.7-inch iPad Pro starting on the morning of March 31, as well carriers like AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

In the United States, the iPhone SE is priced at $399 for 16GB and $499 for 64GB. Orders placed today from Apple's online store will be delivered starting on April 13.

Pricing on the 9.7-inch iPad Pro starts at $599 for a 32GB Wi-Fi only model and goes up to $1,029 for a 256GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model. Orders placed today from the online store will be delivered starting next week.

Apple today released its 2016 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report [PDF] and updated its accompanying Supplier Responsibility website to offer a look at its 2015 efforts to improve the lives of the workers that produce and assemble its products.

Apple's focus in 2015 was on cutting down on excessive work hours and addressing bonded and underage labor practices. Work-hour compliance on Apple's 60-hour maximum workweek mandate reached 97 percent, up from 92 percent in 2014.

For its 10th annual progress report, Apple conducted 640 total audits and 21 unannounced audits, plus it closed 250 requests for environment, safety, and labor cases and conducted 25,000 follow-up interviews to ensure employers did not retaliate against workers for participating in Apple audits.

Apple's auditing process, in addition to assessing work conditions and interviewing workers, seeks out core violations like underage workers, involuntary labor, document falsification, retaliation against workers, unsafe working conditions, and significant environmental issues. Noncompliant suppliers are placed on probation and if issues are not addressed immediately, Apple terminates contracts.

In 2015, Apple suppliers paid out $4.7 million to reimburse workers that were contracted through unfair and excessive recruitment fees. Since 2008, Apple has forced its suppliers to pay out more than $25.6 million to workers to put an end to bonded labor.

Apple discovered three instances of child labor in 2015 at a single supplier. When suppliers are found hiring underage employees, they are required to return children to their homes, fund their education, and pay for basic living expenses.

In 2015 we found one facility, which was audited for the first time, in violation of employing underage labor. The number of audited facilities with underage labor dropped to 1 in 2015 from 6 in 2014 despite nearly 20 percent of facilities audited being new to the process.

There were 3 active cases of underage labor at this single facility. All three underage workers were 15 years old and the minimum age requirement is 16 years of age.

A full chart outlining labor and human rights violations at Apple supplier facilities gives an overall overview of how suppliers are living up to Apple's requirements. Apple has made progress on the prevention of underage labor and the prevention of involuntary labor, but wages and benefits continue to be an area where suppliers are underperforming.

Apple's reports include an environmental component, and in 2015, Apple succeeded in getting 100 percent of identified smelters and refiners in its supply chain to participate in a third-party conflict minerals audit program to ensure suppliers are not financing armed conflict. In an interview with BuzzFeed, Apple operations chief Jeff Williams said achieving that goal required kicking out 35 suppliers that "we were unable to convince to do things in the way we think are appropriate."

Apple also improved conditions in tin mines in Indonesia, which were previously environmentally unsound and unsafe for workers.

In 2015, Apple and the Tin Working Group conducted investigative research on the ground, and worked with civil society organizations and mining companies to define a five-year regulatory reform strategy of tin mining best practices. Together we are also drafting standards and guidelines to help buyers of tin identify responsible sources in the global marketplace.

The Indonesian government is now evolving its own policies for tin production and the environmental impacts of mining.

Over the course of 2015, Apple reduced carbon emissions by 13.8k metric tons and diverted 73.7k metric tons of waste from landfills through a new waste diversion program. Since 2013, 3.8 billion gallons of freshwater have been saved through a Clean Water Program, and 100 percent of chemicals at Apple's final assembly facilities are free of Apple-prohibited substances.

Apple's Supplier Responsibility report is a surprisingly interesting read, with the full document accessible through Apple's dedicated Supplier Responsibility website.

Apple today launched Safari Technology Preview, a new version of its web browser aimed specifically at developers. Safari Technology Preview is aimed at giving developers a way to access new web technologies Apple is planning to implement in iOS and OS X, offering an early look at new developer tools, layout technologies, visual effects, and more.

According to TechCrunch, Apple's goal with Safari Technology Preview is to gather feedback from developers on its browser development ahead of launch through a method that's more easily accessible than WebKit.

Of course, Apple has for a long time offered Nightly builds of WebKit, the open source browser engine that today runs on hundreds of millions of devices and powers Apple's Safari. However, getting access to these builds takes a bit more effort than using the new Safari Technology Preview browser. Instead, with the new browser, its updates are distributed every two weeks by way of the Mac App Store's software update mechanism. That means it's less hassle to run a browser that features the latest advances in web technologies, including HTML, JavaScript, CSS and WebKit.

Safari Technology Preview can be run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser, and it's able to be set as the default browser on a machine. It includes local data stores for history, bookmarks, cookies, and cache, and it supports syncing of browsing history and bookmarks over iCloud. Visually, the Safari Technology Preview icon is designed to resemble the Safari icon, but it is purple in color instead of blue.

The current build of Safari Technology Preview includes several JavaScript improvements, HTML enhancements, and Web Inspector changes:

JavaScript Improvements
- ECMAScript 6 support including lexical scoping, iterators, generators, arrow functions, default parameter values and many new built-in APIs
- Better standards compliant IndexedDB support with more stability
- Included the B3 JavaScript JIT compiler with low-latency, high-throughput that boosts performance
- Added the ability to use document.execCommand('copy') and document.execCommand('cut') in response to a user gesture to copy and cut text programmatically

HTML Enhancements
- The latest implementation of the Shadow DOM specification
- Added support for Content Security Policy Level 2

Web Inspector Changes
- Added memory summary and JavaScript allocations timelines
- Added a fast JavaScript sampling profiler
- Improved JavaScript profiling timeline view

Behavior Changes
- Included many web compatibility fixes and bug fixes

Safari Technology Preview can be downloaded immediately from Apple's Developer website and it will receive regular updates through the Mac App Store. While designed for developers, Safari Technology Preview does not require a developer account to download.