MacRumors

As we noted earlier this week, Apple has yet to launch its annual "Back to School" promotion that in recent years has launched in early July and offered educational customers free $50-$100 Apple Store or iTunes/App Store gift cards with the purchase of a Mac or iOS device, in addition to the usual educational discount available on some products.

With the usual timeframe having come and gone and no signs of an imminent launch for the promotion, many have speculated Apple has decided to end the long-running program.

According to Consomac.fr [Google Translation], however, Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts in her latest video message to store employees this week revealed that she will "share a little bit more insight" on the Back to School situation with them in next week's video.

I'm sure many of you are thinking also 'but is there anything else for Back to School'? Well, I need you to wait until next week's video and I'll share a little bit more insight with you then.

Ahrendts' comment does not confirm that the usual Back to School promotion will be launching in the near future, but the report notes her "enthusiastic tone" suggests the company will be offering something for customers.

Ahrendts is in Tokyo this week and recorded her weekly message from there, but the reason for her trip is unknown.

Apple Music appears to be experiencing some issues today, with some users reporting continual 503 errors for the last several hours. When attempting to play an Apple Music song via iTunes, an error message that says "The shared library 'Cloud Music Library' is not responding."

More annoying than debilitating, the error can be dismissed and music will play after another attempt to connect. The error also seems to pop up occasionally when no music is being played. Errors are being reported by MacRumors readers, redditors, and people on Apple's Support Communities.

Apple's System Status page is not reporting an outage at this time and the 503 error does not appear to be affecting all users. It is not clear what is causing the issue or when it will be fixed by Apple.

Since its June 30 debut, Apple Music has experienced a few outages, including an hour-long Beats 1 radio outage on launch day.

Apple is objecting to GT Advanced Technologies' financing plan over concerns that it would undermine its existing settlement reached with the bankrupt sapphire crystal supplier last year, reports Re/code. GT Advanced reached a settlement with Apple in October 2014 after failing to produce sapphire crystal of the quality desired by the Cupertino-based company for potential use in future products.

GT Advanced is attempting to restructure by raising $95 million through a loan agreement under the supervision of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for New Hampshire, but the financing plan is contingent upon the company receiving enough insurance money to repair any damage to sapphire furnaces following a fire at its former Mesa, Arizona facility a few months ago.

Apple argues that GT Advanced already determined damage at the facility to be minimal, adding that the terms of the loan agreement give lenders too much leverage to foreclose on the sapphire furnaces that GT Advanced is supposed to sell in order to repay Apple. A group of GT Advanced shareholders have also reportedly questioned why the company needs to raise money nine months into bankruptcy.

GT Advanced filed for bankruptcy last October after it became clear the company was spending over one million dollars per day to run its operations, despite being unable to produce sapphire acceptably by Apple's standards. The company began winding down its sapphire production and decommissioning the furnaces to prepare them for storage and resale through the end of last year.

A few new images of the so-called "iPhone 6s Plus" today have been shared by Future Supplier (via Nowhereelse.fr), putting emphasis on the new iPhone's visual similarities to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus line-up while mentioning a "stronger" construction to the device's rear casing.

Future Supplier noticed a slight difference between the iPhone 6s Plus and last year's model, specifically in the location of a few screws used to hold the loud speaker module. But otherwise, the website noted a pretty aesthetically similar device, which makes sense for an "S" generation upgrade for the iPhone 6 line.

Another slight difference may come in the material actually used to create the rear housing for the iPhone 6s Plus, according to a source that spoke with Future Supplier. The source noted that the backing of last year's iPhone 6 Plus was "smoother" than the new iPhone, but simultaneously the 6s Plus will be getting a "stronger" rear housing, perhaps in response to the "Bendgate" controversy.

iFixit has posted a detailed teardown of the new sixth-generation iPod touch, confirming that the device has a 1,043 mAh rated lithium-ion battery and 1GB of SK Hynix LPDDR3 RAM. Comparatively, the fifth-generation iPod touch released in 2012 had a 1,030 mAh rated battery and 512MB of RAM.

The teardown also provides a closer look at the new iPod touch's Apple A8 chip and M8 motion coprocessor (NXP Semiconductors LPC18B1UK ARM Cortex-M3 Microcontroller), Toshiba NAND flash memory, InvenSense MP67B 6-axis gyroscope and accelerometer, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi module, Broadcom and Texas Instruments touchscreen controllers and other components.

The new iPod touch received a relatively low repairability score of 4 out of 10, with ten being the easiest to repair, due to several components being soldered together, no external screws and ribbon cables that are difficult to remove. iFixit has posted detailed step-by-step teardown instructions for the new iPod touch and sells the required tools and parts for most do-it-yourself repairs on its website.

Xiaomi vice president Hugo Barra, who came to the company from Google, today did an interview with Bloomberg where he once again spoke out in defense against copycat accusations that have been levied against the company.

According to Barra, all of the copycat claims come from a single iPhone 5-style chamfered edge on a Xiaomi device. "Yes, it does look like an iPhone 5 and that chamfered edge, by the way, is present in so many other devices."

He went on to say that the accusations were the result of a bias against Chinese companies. "People couldn't bring themselves to believe a Chinese company actually could be a world innovator, could build amazingly high-quality products."

When asked if the recent Mi Note looks like an iPhone 6 Plus, Barra laughed it off and said "it's white like an iPhone 6 Plus." He said accusations of copying weren't fair, because these days, every smartphone looks like every other smartphone on the market.

I just don't think we can allow a company to take ownership of things that just are how they are, right? I think if you look at what we've designed in the last 12 months you understand how much originality there is in what we do. And to be honest, I think you're going to see a lot more happening the opposite direction, people taking inspiration off what we do.

Over the course of four years, Chinese electronics company Xiaomi has managed to become the world's third largest smartphone distributor, competing with the likes of Lenovo, LG, Samsung, and Apple. Its devices, ranging from smartphones to tablets, have been publicly criticized for heavily borrowing design elements from Apple's iPhones and iPads and adopting marketing materials tactics similar to Apple's.

Xiaomi's copycat antics led Apple chief designer Jony Ive to verbally skewer the company in a 2014 interview, where he famously said "I think it's theft and it's lazy. I don't think it's okay at all," following a statement from Xiaomi vice president Hugo Barra, who had said, "Our designers, our engineers are inspired by great products and by great design out there. And frankly who in today's world isn't?"

At the time, Ive went on to say Xiaomi's devices aren't a form of flattery. "When you're doing something for the first time, like with the iPhone... and you spend 7 or 8 years working on it and then it's copied - I have to be honest, the first thing I think isn't 'oh, that was flattering.' "

Xiaomi's latest smartphones are the Mi Note and Mi Note Pro, designed to compete with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, but the company has most recently expanded into the home arena, with the Smart Home Kit.

Less than one week before Apple's third quarter fiscal results are released on July 21 at 2:00 PM Pacific, multiple research firms and analysts have released earnings previews for the three-month period ending June 30. The consensus is that Apple will report another quarterly earnings beat based on stronger than expected iPhone sales and continued year-over-year growth in China.

Apple provided third quarter guidance of revenue between $46 billion and $48 billion, gross margin between 38.5% and 39.5%, operating expenses between $5.65 billion and $5.75 billion and other expenses of $350 million, while the consensus among analysts was an EPS of $1.79. Apple is expected to beat both that guidance, which is purposefully conservative, and street expectations.

Wall Street and Silicon Valley analyst Neil Cybart published his 3Q15 earnings preview on Above Avalon, predicting Apple earned $50.9 billion revenue, with a gross margin of 40.9% and $1.97 earnings per share (EPS), based on sales of 49.3 million iPhones, 10.1 million iPads, 4.9 million Macs, 4.3 million Apple Watches and $9.3 billion from other products and services.

Creative Strategies principal analyst Ben Bajarin estimates that Apple Watch worldwide sales were 4.7 million during the June quarter, topping the roughly 1.1 million iPhones and 3.3 million iPads sold in their respective launch quarters. Bajarin's estimate is based on supply chain output tracked by his market research firm, and is 400,000 units higher than Above Avalon's estimate.

Apple has not publicly disclosed any official Apple Watch sales figures to date, and will be grouping the wrist-worn device under its "Other Products" category in quarterly earnings reports. The combined category includes sales of iPod, Apple TV, Beats Electronics and Apple-branded and third-party accessories, which will inevitably lead to predictions about how many Apple Watches make up the total units sold.

Investment banking company UBS also forecasts that Apple will have above-consensus earnings results based on a higher iPhone average selling price (ASP) estimate of $660 vs $636. The firm predicts Apple will report $52.5 billion revenue, with a gross margin of 40.9% and $2.00 EPS, based on sales of 51 million iPhones, 10.6 million iPads and 3 million Apple Watches.

RBC Capital Markets is more conservative with its estimates, expecting that Apple will report $49.3 billion revenue, with a gross margin of 39.3% and $1.78 EPS, based on sales of 46.5 million iPhones, 11.3 million iPads and 4.6 million Macs. The firm did not estimate Apple Watch sales and expects scrutiny from investors in regards to Apple's iPhone unit sales globally, but particularly in China.

MacRumors will provide live coverage of Apple's third quarter results on July 21.

Apple will face a class action lawsuit brought against it by retail employees in California who were subjected to ongoing bag checks that often caused them to remain at work for 10 to 15 minutes after their shifts had ended, reports Reuters.

Employees allege Apple subjected them to mandatory bag checks that were "embarrassing and demeaning," and were conducted off the clock, leaving them uncompensated for their time. The group is seeking damages for unpaid wages, unpaid overtime, and other recompense.

The lawsuit was first filed in 2013 and after some legal hurdles that included a 2014 dismissal, it was granted class action status today by U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco. Class members participating in the lawsuit include more than 12,000 of Apple's current and former employees in the state of California.

Amanda Friekin and Dean Pelle, the plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit, claim Apple's bag checks were mandatory each time a sales rep left the store and were put in place to discourage theft. Several employees subjected to these bag searches emailed Tim Cook in 2012, writing that managers were "required to treat 'valued' employees as criminals" and that the searches were often performed "in front of gawking customers."

Over the course of the past two years, Apple has argued that the case should not get class action status because not all managers conducted bag searches and that the bag searches that did happen took so little time that compensation was not necessary. Now that it has received class action status, the lawsuit will go to trial.

Apple today released a new series of Apple Watch commercials on its YouTube channel, depicting the Apple Watch being used in a number of ways in the daily lives of the people featured in the videos. Each of the four videos centers around people who use the watch's functions while traveling, while working out, and while communicating with and interacting with family. Apple has a knack for creating ads that are informative while being touching and funny, and its four new videos are no exception.

Two of the videos, "Berlin" and "Beijing," show the Apple Watch in use as a tool to discover new places to visit while exploring the cities. Two women are seen using the app to get directions to places, look up nearby restaurants, and discover new sights as soft music plays in the background of each video. One woman uses the sketch tool in the Apple Watch to write "SOS" to let her friend know she needs help getting out of a conversation with a guy she isn't interested in.

The third video, "Closer," shows the Apple Watch being used by parents and children, playing tic tac toe, starting up music, and communicating with family. A grandmother receives a sketch to let her know the sex of a baby that was just born, a tired mother accepts a call on her wrist without needing to put down a screaming baby, and a father and son duo play simple games on the device.

Apple's fourth commercial is focused on fitness and shows the Apple Watch encouraging people to be more active. Individuals in the videos struggle through their workouts during fitness classes, runs, and martial arts lessons. One man tries to do pushups while his dog barks at him, while another is slammed to the ground at a martial arts class. The video wraps up with a man getting up in the middle of the night to fill his exercise ring with some late night jumping jacks.

Today's ads follow in the footsteps of the first human-centric Apple Watch ads Apple created to promote the device, which were released in April. "Rise," "Up," and "Us" focused on time management, health and fitness, and communication.

Apple and Samsung are in talks with mobile standards organization GSMA to introduce electronic SIM cards, according to Financial Times. The talks are happening around the GSMA's impending announcement of the creation of a standardized embedded SIM card for consumer devices, which would involve both Apple and Samsung if the talks go through.

Rumors of Apple creating its own SIM card line began in late 2010, when a report from Gigaom claimed the company was working with digital security firm Gemalto to create the custom built-in SIM. The iPhone 4s was even rumored to be "SIM-less," pointing once again to an electronic SIM card pre-built into the device to save space, and inaccessible to the user.

The e-SIM would essentially allow customers to avoid being locked in to a dedicated mobile carrier, letting them sign up to their network of choice and even switch instantly if they changed their minds.

With today's news, the networks expected to be on board with the new e-SIM standard include: AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Hutchison Whampoa, Orange, Telefónica, and Vodafone. GSMA's chief executive, Anne Bouverot, claims all parties are "heading towards an agreement" regarding the standardized e-SIM card. But, as the Financial Times points out, thanks to the technical specifications of the e-SIM, it will be "at least a year" before any devices supporting the new card reach the market.

The GSMA said: “With the majority of operators on board, the plan is to finalise the technical architecture that will be used in the development of an end-to-end remote SIM solution for consumer devices, with delivery anticipated by 2016.”

“We have got everyone back on one point, with Apple and Samsung agreeing to be part of that specification,” said Ms Bouverot. “We have been working with them and others to create an industry solution for machines and will agree a solution for consumer electronics.”

The deal with Apple is yet to be finalized, however, with the GSMA noting it is "continuing to work with Apple to secure their support for the initiative" and an actual agreement with Apple "is still in progress."

Last year, Apple took its first steps toward opening up carrier access on some of its devices, introducing an Apple SIM card for cellular versions of both the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3, allowing users -- particularly in the United States -- to switch easily between AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile, taking advantage of each carrier's short-term data plans as they saw fit. EE in the UK was also included in the Apple SIM program, and just weeks ago a partnership with GigSky expanded Apple SIM service to over 90 countries.

The e-SIM standard has been under consideration for several years, but many carriers have resisted the concept over concerns it will be too easy for customers to switch. Even with Apple's physical Apple SIM card, AT&T moved to locking cards to the carrier's service. The company gave no reason why it decided to prevent the Apple SIM from functioning properly beyond "it's just simply the way we've chosen to do it." With only a handful of carriers currently on board and a 2016 launch date for the new e-SIM cards, it remains to be seen how quickly they will be able to gain momentum in the industry.

Apple manufacturing partners Samsung and TSMC have started volume production of A9 chips for the so-called "iPhone 6s," according to DigiTimes. The report claims Apple requested last-minute changes to the chip layout, requiring both chipmakers to rework wafers, but the modifications are not expected to impact the release schedule of the next-generation iPhone.

TSMC will reportedly begin mass production of A9 chips based on a 16nm process in the fourth quarter of 2015, and is also expected to manufacture fingerprint sensors and audio chips on a contract basis for future iPhones. Conflicting reports have surfaced over the past several months suggesting that Samsung, TSMC or a combination of the two would be responsible for A9 chip production.

DigiTimes has a mixed track record at reporting on Apple's upcoming plans, but it does have close connections with the overseas supply chain, and A9 chip production in July is reasonable with less than two months until the next iPhone is expected to launch. Apple will reportedly order a record-breaking 85-90 million "iPhone 6s" units from suppliers by the end of 2015.

The much-rumored "iPhone 6s" and "iPhone 6s Plus" are expected to be announced in September and could feature the same 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screen sizes, an A9 processor with 2GB of RAM, Force Touch, a faster Qualcomm LTE chip, an improved 12-megapixel rear-facing camera and 7000 Series aluminum. The overall design of the smartphones will likely be nearly identical to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

A few days after seeding OS X 10.10.5 to developers for testing, Apple has released the first OS X 10.10.5 beta to public beta testers. With only a few months until the public release of OS X 10.11 El Capitan, OS X 10.10.5 may be one of the last significant updates to Yosemite.

The new beta can be downloaded from the Software Update mechanism through the Mac App Store on Macs enrolled in the Apple Beta Software Program. The pre-release software's build number is 14F6a, the same as the OS X 10.10.5 beta seeded to developers earlier this week.

It also appears that the first OS X 10.10.5 beta is now showing up in Software Update for developers who were unable to see the pre-release software following its release on Tuesday.

OS X 10.10.5 beta includes stability, compatibility and security improvements.

OS X 10.10.4, the current version of OS X Yosemite, was publicly released on June 30 with multiple bug fixes and under-the-hood performance improvements, including the removal of the problematic Discoveryd process.