MacRumors

Ahead of the launch of the iPhone SE, there were questions about just how closely it would resemble the iPhone 5s, but as it turns out, the two devices are almost identical physically aside from the matte chamfered edges on the iPhone SE.

Rumors suggesting the two devices would be close enough in design to share cases were correct -- existing iPhone cases designed to fit an iPhone 5 or 5s will also fit an iPhone SE.

Product listings for iPhone 5 and 5s cases, screen protectors, and other accessories on Apple's online store have all been updated to note their compatibility with the iPhone 5, 5s, and SE. Customers who previously owned an iPhone 5s and are planning to purchase an iPhone SE will not likely need to purchase new cases for the device.

The iPhone 5s has been discontinued in favor of the iPhone SE, and pricing on the new device starts at $399 for the 16GB model. Apple will begin accepting orders for the iPhone SE on Thursday, March 24, with an official launch coming on March 31.

Apple has introduced a Lightning to USB-C Cable to its online accessory store that lets users connect their iPhone, iPad, or iPod with Lightning connector to a computer’s USB-C port for syncing and charging.

Significantly, the cable can be used with an Apple 29W USB-C Power Adapter to take advantage of the fast charging feature on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, but not the brand new 9.7-inch iPad Pro, which lacks the fast-charge capability.

The new adapter will be a welcome option for iPhone and iPad owners who also own a 12-inch MacBook, which uses a 29W USB-C Power Adapter.

The cable comes in 1-meter and 2-meter lengths, costing $25 and $35 respectively, and both are shipping immediately. Apple’s 29w USB-C Power Adapter is separately available for $49.

Apple today released new software for the Apple Watch, upgrading watchOS 2 from version 2.1 to version 2.2. WatchOS 2.2, which has been in testing since January 11, comes more than three months after the release of watchOS 2.1 and brings a couple of important new features alongside bug fixes and performance improvements.

The 2.2 update can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General --> Software Update. To install the update, the Apple Watch must have 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the Apple Watch charger, and it must be in range of the iPhone.

WatchOS 2.2, along with iOS 9.3, introduces support for pairing multiple Apple Watches with a single iPhone. Both updates are required, and each watch paired with an iPhone running iOS 9.3 must have watchOS 2.2 installed.

There are few other outward-facing changes included in watchOS 2.2, but the update brings improvements and a new look to the built-in Maps app. Maps now supports the Nearby feature first introduced with iOS 9, allowing users to quickly locate local points of interest, and it has new buttons for quickly accessing directions to home and work.

Along with multi-watch support and a revamped Maps app, watchOS 2.2 also brings under-the-hood performance improvements and bug fixes to address issues that have been discovered since the release of watchOS 2.1.

Apple today released tvOS 9.2 to the public, marking the second major update to the tvOS operating system since the fourth-generation Apple TV was released in October. tvOS 9.2 has been in beta since January 11 and brings a slew of new features that were introduced throughout the testing period.

tvOS 9.2 can be downloaded over-the-air through the Settings app on the Apple TV 4 by opening the System section and choosing the Software Update option.

tvOS 9.2 brings two new text input methods -- dictation and Bluetooth keyboards -- to the fourth-generation Apple TV, making it much easier to insert passwords and search for content like apps, movies, and television shows. Bluetooth keyboard support is a major feature that was missing from previous versions of tvOS, a curious absence as the Apple TV 4 has supported Bluetooth gaming controllers since launch.

With dictation support, Apple TV users can dictate text for tasks like spelling user names and passwords instead of typing them in. Dictation capabilities are available in all countries where Siri is available on the Apple TV. Bluetooth keyboard support and dictation join the Siri remote and the Apple TV iOS app as ways to interface with the Apple TV 4.

In tvOS 9.2, apps can be grouped into folders, making it possible to create a more organized iOS-style Home screen, and there's also a new look for the App Switcher interface.

Full support for iCloud Photo Library is included, so Apple TV users can access all of their photos on the device, including Live Photos taken with the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. Photo Stream was the only available photo option prior to tvOS 9.2, and iCloud Photo Library can be turned on through the Settings app.

Siri's capabilities are expanded in tvOS 9.2, a change that may be the most welcome to most Apple TV users. Siri is now able to search the App Store, improving app discovery. Using Siri, searches can be made for specific apps or categories of apps, like social media or games.

After installing tvOS 9.2, Apple TV owners will be prompted to update their Siri Remotes with new firmware. The update will improve motion sensor performance within games and apps and it adds support for additional sound bar and receiver hardware.

Other new features in tvOS 9.2 include support for MapKit, so developers can incorporate maps into their tvOS apps, and additional Siri languages. Siri supports US Spanish (in the US only) and French Canadian (in Canada only). UK English, Australian English, and US English are available as options in the UK, Australian, and US Storefronts when English is set as the tvOS language.

With today's update, the fourth-generation Apple TV is gaining sorely needed features to improve the overall user experience, so Apple TV owners will likely want to install the new software right away.

At its media event in Cupertino today, Apple announced that iOS 9.3 will begin to rollout as a free update to users worldwide today. As previously announced thanks to betas of the software, the update will bring new features to iOS, mainly centering around Night Shift.

Updates to older apps like Apple News will see some small UI shifts to highlight breaking news stories, and the company announced that its CarPlay features will continue to appear on a wide array of vehicles in the coming year. Also briefly touched upon in iOS 9.3 was a featured called "Education," which will allow teachers and administration access to organizational features inside of classrooms on devices like the iPad.

Stay up-to-date with the event today on the MacRumors live stream.

Update: iOS 9.3 is now available for compatible iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices.

At Apple's March 2016 event today in its Cupertino headquarters, the company announced a brand new band material for its Apple Watch: woven nylon. Apple also announced several new colors for other Apple Watch bands, including a black Milanese Loop. The Apple Watch will also see a price drop, with the Apple Watch Sport now starting at $299.

The new woven nylon bands, which are the signature addition to the new "spring collection" of Apple Watch bands, are priced at $49 and come in 7 colors: Gold / Red, Gold / Royal Blue, Royal Blue, Pink, Pearl, Scuba Blue and Black.

Other new bands include Red and Marine Blue Classic Buckles, Marigold and Blue Jay Modern Buckles, White and Storm Gray Leather Loops, Space Black Milanese Loop, and Yellow, Apricot and Royal Blue Sport Bands.

During today's "Let Us Loop You In" media event at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, the company unveiled a new software framework called "CareKit" that will allow developers to build apps to "empower people to take on an active role in their care." iPhone apps that support the new framework will allow for users to easily track their symptoms and medication to help provide an overall wider view of their health.

The app will have a care card, symptom and measurement tracker, an insight dashboard, and the ability to share medical information with doctors and family members. Since CareKit will be open sourced, developers will be able to continue to iterate on the abilities of these first four modules designed by Apple.

• Care Card helps people track their individual care plans and action items, such as taking medication or completing physical therapy exercises. Activities can automatically be tracked and entered using sensors in Apple Watch® or iPhone;

• Symptom and Measurement Tracker lets users easily record their symptoms and how they’re feeling, like monitoring temperature for possible infections or measuring pain or fatigue. Progress updates could include simple surveys, photos that capture the progression of a wound or activities calculated by using the iPhone’s accelerometer and gyroscope, like quantifying range of motion;

• Insight Dashboard maps symptoms against the action items in the Care Card to easily show how treatments are working; and

• Connect makes it easy for people to share information and communicate with doctors, care teams or family members about their health and any change in condition.

Apple also announced a few updates to its ResearchKit framework that will allow developers to incorporate the study of genetic data into iPhone apps. Among the new fields of study allowed by the updates are postpartum depression, cardiovascular disease, and asthma. ResearchKit studies continue to expand and are now being conducted in Australia, Austria, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK and the US.

Ahead of Apple's court date with the Federal Bureau of Investigation tomorrow, Bloomberg has taken a dive into the company's history with the FBI to chart the buildup to the heated battle over security and encryption on smartphones. The timeline begins with Apple's introduction of iOS 8 in June of 2014, with Apple subsequently providing the FBI early access so the law enforcement agency "could study how the new system would change evidence-gathering techniques" ahead of the public release of iOS 8 in September of that year.

High-ranking officials at the FBI quickly learned that iOS 8 introduced a new form of encryption into the software that prevented any government agent, or Apple itself, from accessing data stored on the smartphone.

With that significant change in iOS 8, the relationship between Apple and the FBI began to destabilize, but the government didn't have enough backing to support legislation that would help it bypass the encrypted features of the new iOS. But with the San Bernardino terrorist attack last December, the FBI had a foothold to help it take the encryption issue public.

"The reason the relationship went south is the government was expecting some degree of accommodation on the part of the technology companies," said Timothy Edgar, the former director of privacy and civil liberties for the White House National Security Staff from 2009 to 2010. "They were expecting the companies to essentially back down and not go forward with new security measures that would make it impossible for you to access devices or communications. They were caught off guard by basically being told to get lost."

According to one of Bloomberg's sources, the government's first cause for concern with Apple's encryption actually began all the way back in 2010 when the company launched the encrypted video messaging service FaceTime, followed by iMessage in 2011. With the apps making it impossible for the FBI to even peek into criminal activity, the government was rapidly being made aware of "how much of a premium Apple put on privacy."

A few attempts at legislation that would allow the FBI to access encrypted data on smartphones with a court order were made sometime in 2013, but subsequently abandoned following the Edward Snowden controversy that year. According to Timothy Edgar, the former director of privacy and civil liberties for the White House, "there was a real split" in the administration regarding the encryption legislation.

When it became clear that the administration wouldn't support a new law that would help investigators gain access to iPhones and other devices, many FBI agents became frustrated and disappointed. Some recalled that the bureau was pilloried for not connecting the dots to prevent the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to Leo Taddeo, the former special agent in charge of the New York FBI special operations and cyber division.

That sequence of events and the subsequent San Bernardino shooting ultimately led the government to take the issue public and seek a court order for Apple to unlock Syed Farook's iPhone, leading to Tim Cook's non-compliance letter, and the court date with the FBI on March 22. According to Edgar, now a senior fellow at Brown University, "Lawyers think privacy is you can't listen to my conversation without a warrant; technologists think privacy is you can't listen to my conversation, period. It's hard to reconcile those two points of view."

Apple has said that if the courts rule in favor of the FBI in the encryption case, it's ready to take the issue all the way to the Supreme Court. More recently, some Apple engineers have stated that if the company is forced to unlock the San Bernandino iPhone, they may decide to not comply with the ruling.

Check out Bloomberg's full story for more of the history between Apple and the FBI ahead of tomorrow's court date.

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.

A nearly five-year-old design patent trial between Apple and Samsung has reached a new level, as the U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to hear Samsung's appeal of a lower court decision that ordered the South Korean electronics maker to pay a $548 million settlement to its Cupertino-based rival in December.

According to Reuters, Samsung plans to appeal what it believes are "excessive penalties" for allegedly "copying the patented designs of the iPhone," including the smartphone's rounded rectangular bezel and colorful grid of icons. The 2011 lawsuit targeted select Galaxy-branded smartphones and tablets.

Samsung has already paid the $548 million settlement to Apple, but it can obtain reimbursement if the U.S. Supreme Court reverses or modifies the original judgment. Apple had urged the high court to deny the appeal, accusing Samsung of raising issues that do not "deserve review" in an effort to prolong court proceedings.

The appeal will likely delay a damages retrial that was scheduled to begin later this month in the Northern District of California, according to FOSS Patents.