MacRumors

Following up on last month's claim that Apple is planning to show off a revamped Apple TV set-top box with App Store and Siri support at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference in June, BuzzFeed now reports that the new box will not include support for 4K video streaming even though several services like Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube offer content in the high-resolution format.

“4K is great, but it’s still in its infancy,” said one source familiar with Apple’s thinking.

Enabling 4K video support in Apple’s first major overhaul of Apple TV in three years might seem like a smart bit of future-proofing — particularly given reports that the A8 chip in the guts of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is 4K-capable. But it’s arguably an unnecessary one at this point.

The report points out that 4K streaming is expensive for content providers given the bandwidth required, and the vast majority of Americans do not even have Internet connectivity at fast enough speeds to support such streaming. Still, those who do currently stream 4K content or hope to in the relatively near future are likely to be disappointed by Apple's decision to forgo support in the next Apple TV.

Beyond existing Apple TV services and new third-party apps, the revamped Apple TV is also expected to support a package of streaming television channels if Apple can manage to reach agreements with the necessary content providers. Apple is reportedly in talks with ABC, Fox, and Disney, as well as Discovery and Viacom, to try to put together a "skinny" TV package of select channels that would reportedly cost consumers somewhere in the range of $25 to $40 per month. Apple is said to be aiming to announce the service at WWDC in June and launch it in the September timeframe.

Apple on Friday updated its online store with instructions on how to purchase the Apple Watch, reiterating that the wrist-worn device can be ordered online or reserved for in-store pickup. The new section appears to confirm that Apple Watch in-store reservations will be available beginning April 10, allowing customers to reserve a specific Apple Watch for pickup at an Apple Store beginning April 24.

The wording and timing of the new section suggests that Apple Watch in-store reservations will be available April 10, a move that would generate more foot traffic in Apple Stores on Apple Watch launch day. Nevertheless, there remains a slim possibility that reservations will begin on April 24. Apple did not immediately respond to request for comment, although we will update this post if we receive confirmation.

Last week, Apple Store training documents obtained by MacRumors indicated that Apple will not allow walk-in purchases for the Apple Watch upon launch, meaning that reserving the wrist-worn device for pickup at a specified date and time will be required initially. Walk-in customers can join the queue for a try-on appointment, after which they can order the Apple Watch online or make a reservation for in-store pickup.

Apple Watch pre-orders kick off at 12:01 AM Pacific on April 10 in the United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan and United Kingdom. Apple has added "Guided Tour" videos to its website that outline various functions of the Apple Watch, while we've prepared detailed guides on how to pre-order the Apple Watch and what to expect at a try-on appointment.

Apple today updated its dedicated Apple Watch website with a brand new "Guided Tours" section that includes several Apple Watch walkthrough videos. The introductory video on the site, entitled "Welcome to Apple Watch," walks users through all of the things the Apple Watch can do. Apple Watch Guided Tours are also being featured on the main Apple site.

The site includes dedicated videos on various Apple Watch features, like Messages, Faces, and Digital Touch. Other video walkthroughs on features like Phone Calls, Siri, Maps, Music, Apple Pay, and more, are labeled as "Coming soon," and may be added over the next few days.

The four videos available today are "Welcome to Apple Watch," "Messages," "Faces," and "Digital Touch." As previously mentioned, the first video is a walkthrough, but other videos are more specific. In "Messages," for example, we see a demo of how Messages works on the device. An incoming message causes a tap on the wrist through the Taptic Engine, and raising the wrist displays the message. Lowering the wrist dismisses the message, while tapping "Reply" lets the user pick a pre-defined response or dictate one through Siri.

There's also a walkthrough of the animated emoji that can be sent through the Messages app, and a demo on how to send new messages directly from the watch.

In "Faces," there's a demonstration of all of the different faces that are available on the Apple Watch, and a walkthrough on how to customize each watch face. A firm press on the watch face brings up a faces gallery and access to customization options. Each face has different customization options, from adding more detail like weather to changing second hand colors.

"Digital Touch" goes through sending sketches, taps, and heartbeats to contacts. Touching the side button of the Apple Watch gives you access to your friends list, where you can make a call, send a message, or send a Digital Touch. With Digital Touch, you can send a quick sketch, tap to send a tap to a friend, or hold two fingers on the screen to send a heartbeat.

These videos are also referenced within other areas of the Apple Watch site, with the Messages, for example, available in built-in apps section, and the Digital Touch video available in the "New Ways to Connect" section.

Today's walkthrough videos from Apple come a week ahead of Apple Watch pre-orders, which are set to begin on Friday, April 10 at 12:01 AM PT. April 10 will also mark the date when Apple begins offering in-store try-on sessions, giving customers the opportunity to test the Apple Watch out before its April 24 launch.

Update 6PM PT: Apple's added the Guided Tour videos to its YouTube channel.

Apple today updated the Apple Watch page of its online store to note that online pre-orders for the Apple Watch will begin at 12:01 AM Pacific Time on Friday, April 10. Just after midnight on the West Coast is Apple's typical time for pre-orders, and the company will likely take the store down beginning at 9PM to prepare for orders.

Apple Watch pre-orders will go live simultaneously in all of the first-wave launch countries, meaning U.K. customers will be able order at 8:01 AM local time while Australian pre-orders will go live at 5:01 PM AEST.

Here's a full list of pre-order times by country (in local time):

- U.S., Canada: 12:01 a.m. (Pacific Time), 3:01 a.m. (Eastern Time)
- U.K.: 8:01 a.m.
- Germany: 9:01 a.m.
- France: 9:01 a.m.
- Australia: 5:01 p.m.
- Hong Kong: 3:01 p.m.
- China: 3:01 p.m.
- Japan 3:01 p.m.

Apple will accept orders both through its website and through its Apple Store app on the iPhone. Placing an order through the app can often bypass some of the congestion that occurs when pre-orders first begin.

Pricing for the Apple Watch begins at $349 for the Apple Watch Sport, $549 for the stainless steel Apple Watch, and $10,000 for the gold Apple Watch Edition. Pre-orders will be delivered to customers beginning on April 24, which is the device's official launch date.

We've known that AppleCare+ will be available for the Apple Watch since Apple's March 9 media event, but pricing for the extended support has thus far remained a mystery. A source has now shared some purported pricing information with MacRumors that may shed some light on the cost, suggesting AppleCare+ for each version of the watch will be priced differently.

According to the claimed internal Apple screenshots, AppleCare+ for the entry-level aluminum Apple Watch Sport will be priced at $59, while AppleCare+ for the middle-tier stainless steel Apple Watch with Sport Band will be priced at $79. AppleCare+ for a $15,000 gold Apple Watch Edition will be significantly more expensive at $999. It is unclear from the information we have received whether band choice will affect AppleCare+ pricing, as band prices vary significantly.

While we can't verify the legitimacy of these claimed screenshots, other sources at Apple have indicated they are hearing unconfirmed word of similar pricing and 9to5Mac is reporting the same.

Without AppleCare+, purchases of the Apple Watch Sport and the stainless steel Apple Watch will be covered by a limited one-year warranty for hardware repairs and 90 days of complimentary support. Edition Watch purchases will include a two-year warranty and complimentary support.

With the purchase of AppleCare+, the warranty for aluminum Apple Watch Sport and stainless steel Apple Watch models will be extended to two years from the date of purchase, plus accidental damage will be covered. Apple Watch Edition coverage will be extended to three years with AppleCare+. Employees have not received word on how much accidental damage repairs will cost, but for the iPhone, AppleCare+ is priced at $99 and accidental damage carries a $79 service fee for each incident, with a maximum of two covered incidents.

Apple Watch buyers will be able to purchase AppleCare+ as an add-on both online and in-store. With the iPhone, AppleCare+ can be purchased up to 60 days after an initial iPhone purchase, and it's likely Apple will adopt a similar policy with the Apple Watch.

The Apple Watch will be available for pre-order beginning on April 10, which is the same day that in-store try-on appointments will begin. The device will officially launch in the first wave of nine markets on April 24.

Third-party warranty firm SquareTrade recently released a video showcasing the durability of the new Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and HTC One M9, discovering the Galaxy to bend at 110 lbs of pressure and the One M9 to bend at 120 lbs of pressure.

Although the Galaxy S6 Edge's pressure limits are comparable to the iPhone 6 Plus' testing, the Galaxy's screen ended up cracking under the pressure instead of slightly bending similar to Apple's plus-size iPhone model. The HTC One M9 lasted further than its two competitors, reaching 120 lbs of pressure, but the phone was rendered useless thanks to a faulty power button following the pressure test.

Testing to the point of "catastrophic failure", the iPhone 6 Plus survived 179 lbs of pressure, beating out the Galaxy S6 Edge's 149 lbs stress test. As SquareTrade points out, the Galaxy's stress tests proves the phone could be worse for users due to the smartphone's screen cracking under intense pressure.

Following the "Bendgate" controversy last year, both Samsung and HTC parodied Apple's woes on social media. Though SquareTrade's pressure tests are meant to measure intense circumstances, it's still interesting to see where each smartphone lies on the durability scale when compared to one another.

Still three weeks away from being released to the public, the Apple Watch has received another design award for Apple ahead of launch, this time receiving the "Best of the Best" designation by the German Red Dot design awards (via aBlogtoWatch).

Previously winning the Gold Award, and being called "an icon", at the International Forum Design awards earlier in March, the Red Dot award counts a second win for the wearable in the design category before its April 24 launch date.

The Apple Watch wasn't alone in the smartwatch category, however, as the MB&F HM6 Space Pirate horological smartwatch also received the "Best of the Best" designation.

The Red Dot jury judged the Apple Watch, and all products in the category, on its functionality, durability, ergonomics, and even "symbolic and emotional content", amongst other criteria. As aBlogtoWatch points out, there's a drastic monetary difference between the two winning smartwatch devices this year, even when comparing the $17,000 Apple Watch Edition to the Space Pirate.

Red Dot design award jurors understandably fawned over what is still, by far, the best-looking smartwatch, even though it isn't on the market yet. Given the limitations of technology, as well as the potential of what can come of connected smartwatches, I think it makes a lot of sense that the Red Dot award jury decided to not only recognize the Apple Watch, but consider it as a "Best of the Best" product.

It's an interesting Best of the Best Red Dot watch design award this year, as, on the one hand, you have the $230,000 MB&F HM6 Space Pirate that is limited to just 50 pieces, and on the other hand, you have the mostly $1,000 and under Apple Watch that could easily have 50 million units on wrists before long.

The Product Design category of the Red Dot awards celebrates 31 total areas of design, including everything from living room furniture to vehicle accessories, with the "Watches" category getting introduced this year to compensate for the increasingly crowded smartwatch market.

The Product Design category specifically in 2015 had 4,928 entries with only 81 total products receiving the "Best of the Best" award recognition. A gala will be held this June 29 at the Aalto-Theater in Essen, Germany for all of the Best of the Best Red Dot award winners. The winners not only receive the Red Dot designation materials to use on product packaging and marketing, but will have their products displayed in the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen for up to a year.

Samsung will provide Apple with A9 chips for its next-generation iPhone and other devices, reports Bloomberg, confirming a previous report in early February. Over the past couple of months there had been confusion and conflicting reports as to whether Samsung, Apple's longtime supplier and rival, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) would produce the chips.

Samsung will start making Apple A9 processor chips at its Giheung plant in South Korea, the people said, asking not to be identified because the contract hasn’t been discussed publicly. Additional orders will go to Samsung’s partner Globalfoundries Inc., according to another person familiar with the arrangement.

In 2013, Apple signed a chip production deal with TSMC in hopes of diversifying its supply chain resources and reducing its reliance on Samsung amid the two companies' ongoing legal disputes.

It appears that Samsung's investment in manufacturing technologies won Apple over, with TSMC Chairman Morris Chang recently telling investors that the company would lose ground to Samsung in producing the most advanced chip technology possible in 2015, though he also noted the company would regain that advantage in 2016.

Samsung is reportedly producing the chips with its advanced 14-nanometer process, which has outpaced TSMC's capabilities and results in smaller chips that consume less energy and provide more processing power. The Korean company is also said to be providing memory chips for Apple's next-generation devices.

Thus far, little is known about what the next-generation iPhones or iPads could include other than new A9 chips, but new reports indicate Apple could be bringing its new Force Touch technology to the devices. Other rumors also suggest the A9 may make its way into the "iPad Pro", which may debut in late 2015. It's likely the 2015 versions of the iPad Air and iPad mini will be outfitted with versions of the A9 as well.

Apple today seeded the seventh beta of OS X Yosemite to developers, three days after seeding the sixth OS X Yosemite beta and two months after releasing the first OS X 10.10.3 beta.

The new beta, build 14D130a, is available for registered developers through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store and through the Mac Developer Center.

In today's beta notes, Apple has added Safari and Mail as focus areas for testing, in addition to previous testing areas that include Wi-Fi captive networks, screen sharing, and Arabic/Hebrew system languages. The known issues section lists just one remaining issue with missing thumbnails when using Time Machine to restore a Photos library upgraded from Aperture.

OS X 10.10.3 includes several new features, like the Photos for OS X app. Designed to integrate with iCloud Photo Library and the Photos app on iOS, the Photos for OS X app is a replacement for both iPhoto and Aperture. Reviews have suggested that while Photos is a suitable replacement for iPhoto, with more advanced tools and performance optimizations, it may leave professional users disappointed in its initial incarnation.

Along with the new Photos for OS X app, earlier OS X 10.10.3 betas have introduced a redesigned emoji picker that consolidates emoji into a single scrollable page with clear labels, new diversified emoji and emoji skin tone modifiers, new flag emoji and updated emoji for the iPhone, iMac, and Apple Watch, and support for Google 2-step verification when setting up accounts in System Preferences.

With the fifth and sixth OS X 10.10.3 betas, there were just two minor bug fixes, and today's update likely includes similar small changes. Given that we're on the seventh beta, OS X 10.10.3 is undoubtedly getting close to completion and we may see a public release of the software in the near future.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a respectable track record at reporting on Apple's upcoming plans, issued a note to investors on Thursday that claims the next-generation iPhone will have a FPC-made capacitive Force Touch sensor under the backlight, laminated with metal shielding. Kuo adds that the change may be significant enough for Apple to call its next iPhone the "iPhone 7" instead of the so-called "iPhone 6s."

The analyst claims that the hardware design of Force Touch will be different than the technology used in the Apple Watch and 12-inch Retina MacBook. Instead of directly detecting the pressure applied by fingers, the new improved Force Touch hardware will monitor the contact area where a finger presses to determine how much pressure is being applied. The sensor will use capacitive technology and thin FPC material to save space.

"We believe that iPhone’s Force Touch sensor doesn’t directly detect the pressure applied by fingers. Instead, it monitors the contact area on which the finger touches the screen to decide how big the pressure is.

There are two possible structural designs for Force Touch from a technology viewpoint. The Force Touch sensor can either be placed between the cover lens and the In-cell touch panel or under the In-cell touch panel’s backlight. In the first position, the technological challenge lies with how to produce the transparent Force Touch sensor; in the second position, the challenge is how to reduce signal interference from in-cell touch panel. Our understanding of the technology is that producing a transparent Force Touch sensor is more difficult, so the chances are the new iPhone this year will opt for the second position."

Kuo adds that Apple is likely to change the hardware design of Force Touch again in 2016 by removing the metal shielding to achieve a thinner form factor. He notes that the changes should improve the iPhone user experience, but will likely create uncertainty for Force Touch module suppliers TPK and GIS, as well as metal shielding suppliers Minebea, Hi-P and Jabil.

Kuo claims that Apple is still targeting 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch models for its next-generation iPhones, akin to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and notes that a 4-inch model is unlikely to be released this year. KGI Securities estimates iPhone shipments will total 25 to 30 million units in the third quarter, helping drive momentum for Force Touch components within the supply chain.