It's just after 9:00 a.m. on Friday, April 10, which means Apple Stores in Australia have opened up for the day. Prospective Apple Watch buyers in the country are already lining up outside of stores in the hopes of getting a chance to try on the Apple Watch in person.
Several Australians on Twitter and Instagram have posted images of people lining up outside of Apple Stores, and the first people waiting in line have already been allowed into the store to check out the Apple Watch display units. Several people are also live streaming their experiences with the Apple Watch on Periscope.
A photo posted by Aaron Meredith (@aaronmeredith) on
Apple retail stores in Australia are already outfitted with Apple Watch tables that have the Apple Watch on display alongside an iPad, and there are also tables that have the Apple Watch on display under glass, where the devices can be tried on.
Customers who are doing Apple Watch try-ons are walk-in customers who waited in line to see the device, as try-on appointments cannot yet be scheduled online. MacRumors has learned that try-on appointments will be available online in Australia later today, possibly after pre-orders begin.
Line in Australia to see the Apple Watch, courtesy of Daniel Vuckovic
People are also beginning to line up in other locations around the world where Apple retail stores have not opened, and as can be seen in this image from Japan, stores that will be opening soon are already equipped with try on tables and Apple Watch display units.
Apple Store in Japan equipped with Apple Watch displays, courtesy of Hideki Ito
Apple Watch try-on appointments in the United States will not begin until stores open in the morning on Friday, April 10, but based on the lines and the crowds in other countries, it's likely most Apple Stores will be very busy tomorrow. Apple Watch pre-orders will be available beginning April 10 at 12:01 AM Pacific Time.
Thursday January 23, 2025 6:41 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 18.3 should be released to the public next week, following beta testing since mid-December. While the software update is a relatively minor one, it still includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes for iPhones.
Below, we recap everything new in iOS 18.3.
Notification Summary Changes
Examples of inaccurate Apple Intelligence notification summaries
Apple Intelligence...
Friday January 24, 2025 1:55 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is set to release iOS 18.3 next week, bringing further refinements to Apple Intelligence features, a couple of neat new capabilities to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 devices, and bug fixes.
While not quite as packed with new features as Apple's preceding iOS 18 point releases, iOS 18.3 still introduces capabilities that aim to make your iPhone smarter and more intuitive. Below, we've...
Friday January 24, 2025 8:16 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 18.3 is expected to be widely released next week, and that means the first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner.
Apple has previously implied that iOS 18.4 will be released in April, as that is when it promised to make Apple Intelligence available in even more languages.
Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far.
Apple Intelligence for Siri
Siri ...
Thursday January 23, 2025 7:32 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Walmart still does not accept Apple Pay or other NFC payments at its more than 4,600 stores across the U.S., and it stood firm on its reasoning for that today.
A spokesperson for Walmart today informed MacRumors that its position on contactless payments has not changed since we last reached out about the matter in 2022. The big-box retailer said it remains focused on its own convenient...
Wednesday January 22, 2025 6:01 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year. In this article, we recap rumored features and changes for the device.
The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports Wi-Fi 6E, which would be an upgrade over the current Apple TV's standard Wi-Fi 6 support. Wi-Fi 6E extends the...
Tuesday January 21, 2025 4:31 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 18.3 today, and with it comes release notes confirming what's new. While we knew about several of the features that are in the update, there are some lesser known tweaks and bug fixes.
The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all...
Friday January 24, 2025 9:09 am PST by Juli Clover
The upcoming iPhone 17 models that Apple plans to release this year will not feature a smaller Dynamic Island, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today.
On social media, he said that he is expecting the size of the Dynamic Island to remain "largely unchanged" across the iPhone 17 lineup. His statement is contrary to prior rumors that we've heard about planned changes for the iPhone 17 models.
...
Saturday January 25, 2025 5:07 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple's retail stores will be rolling out "merchandise/floor marketing updates" next week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Gurman did not explicitly say if the store updates are related to any upcoming product announcements, but he did mention that next week is around the time that Apple rolls out its annual Black Unity watch band for the Apple Watch.
In each of the past four years, ...
Thursday January 23, 2025 2:48 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
It's also time for Apple's first product announcement of the year.
Last year, Apple said it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and the wireless earbuds are expected to launch very soon.
Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code
In his Power On newsletter last weekend, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the...
42mm Classic Buckle: I could do this up on the last two holes but the very last hole was more comfortable.
42mm Sport strap:
I could do up the Sport strap on the last hole but to be comfortable I would need to make one further hole. The strap was long enough to accommodate me making one extra hole but I can't be sure (sorry) that the end would stay tucked in.
42mm Link bracelet:
I didn't close the clasp fully and I didn't want to break it. It may have been more likely to cut me than break. But I think I could use it with two extra links. The Apple Store employee was not currently aware if or when they might sell extra links.
Also, we pulled off the straps on one watch and at the top end it does say in the crevice, 'Designed in California. Assembled in China' but at the bottom end of the watch it still has those five or six pins exposed that were rumored to be for testing but I believe are there to accommodate future straps with tech features! Like the Pebble watch will have. Just have to wonder if the straps with tech features will be long enough.
The watches I tried on were in demo mode but they also had watches basically mounted on the table that had running software you could try.
Very good experience to try on the watch this morning, I would highly recommend a try on as the size of the watch is a lot smaller than the website seems to show. Also nice to experience it on the wrist.
The news about the retina MacBook is that it is not yet on display in Australia so staff were recommending an online purchase.
