MacRumors

Apple and BMW were in negotiations to use the German car manufacturer's car platform for its electric i3 for Apple's rumored car project, code-named "Project Titan", according to a new report from German business magazine Manager Magazin [Google Translate].

The Cupertino company was interested in the body of the i3, which is a small hatchback that has a shell made out of carbon fiber, helping keep the car light. The two companies began talks in autumn 2014, but broke off talks before committing to check in with each other and their plans periodically. The report also states that Tim Cook and Apple senior managers made a trip to BMW's factory in Leipzig, Germany to take a look at the production of the i3.

This isn't the first time BMW and Apple have been linked to be working on a car. In March, a report from German automotive magazine Auto Motor und Sport claimed the two were in close negotiations to turn the i3 into an "Apple Car". However, BMW denied the claim to Reuters hours after the report surfaced.

Earlier this week, Apple hired Doug Betts, former Senior Vice President of the Chrysler Group and the global head of operations leading product service and quality, continuing the company's hiring of automotive experts. Additionally, Apple hired Paul Furgale, a researcher with a specialization in autonomous vehicles.

While details on Apple's car project have been scarce, there have been reports of Apple recruiting talent from the automotive industry, including poaching employees from Tesla, Ford and GM, and that the company has hundreds of employees working on its car project. Rumors suggest Apple is aiming to produce a car by 2020, but because Apple often works on projects that never see the light of day, it's possible the company could delay or shelve the project if it's not happy with its progress.

Building on a series of recent ads centered around the "If it's not an iPhone, it's not an iPhone" tagline, Apple today rolled out a new web campaign for the iPhone under the theme of "Why there’s nothing quite like iPhone."

The new campaign is highlighted on Apple's main home page as well as its iPhone pages, and it includes a scrolling feature page drawing attention to a number of aspects of Apple and the iPhone that make the device stand out from its competitors.

Every iPhone we've made — and we mean every single one — was built on the same belief. That a phone should be more than a collection of features. That, above all, a phone should be absolutely simple, beautiful, and magical to use.

The page proceeds to highlight the iPhone's integration of hardware and software, camera capabilities, breadth of available apps, resistance to malware, and Apple's commitment to privacy and security with Touch ID and Apple Pay.

The campaign also highlights how Apple includes a variety of built-in apps and tools to make text, audio, and video messaging free and easy, track fitness and activity, and control devices around the home, all with accessibility features to make the iPhone's features available to as many people as possible. Finally, Apple points to its support network, from its retail stores to AppleCare phone and chat support.

Magnolia Pictures has shared the first trailer and movie poster for Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine with Mashable, just over four months after the film premiered at SXSW 2015 in Austin, Texas. The upcoming documentary, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney, portrays Jobs as both a tech visionary and unapologetic leader throughout his career at Apple.

Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine opens in select theaters on September 4.

The Merchant Customer Exchange's contactless payment system, CurrentC, is gearing up for a limited trial run next month in the stores of the companies that began backing MCX in 2012, including Walmart, Target, and Best Buy, according to unnamed sources speaking with Bloomberg.

The service is backed by a large roster of retailers, from Sears to Wendy's, who support the platform as a way to avoid losing integral shopping data to an increasingly competitive market thanks to the likes of Apple and Google.

CurrentC is different from Apple Pay however, using barcodes and RFID scanners in place of NFC terminals Apple took advantage of with Apple Pay. As Bloomberg points out, it also has a major hurdle regarding the signing of deals with major credit card companies, something it has yet to do.

While MCX is getting closer to releasing its app, there are plenty of hurdles. It hasn’t signed deals with major credit-card companies like Visa to use bank-issued card accounts within the app. That means a shopper wouldn’t be able to use, say, a Visa debit card from JPMorgan Chase & Co. This can be done with competing products like Apple Pay. Instead, users of MCX’s app will be limited to private-label store cards, like Target’s REDcard, or they’ll have to give MCX their checking-account details.

Also worrisome for MCX is the three-year exclusivity contract each retailer signed when the company began talks of the CurrentC system back in 2012. Those contracts -- which prohibited partnering with other mobile payment services -- begin to end next month, alongside CurrentC's soft launch in August. The company has already felt the weight of this, as Best Buy announced back in April it would begin supporting Apple Pay within its mobile app, with in-store support gearing up for later in 2015.

Not long after, MCX's CEO at the time, Dekkers Davidson, left the company, with a spokeswoman telling press that Davidson's exit had nothing to do with the announcement made by Best Buy days before. Payments security analyst Julie Conroy spoke on the subject to Bloomberg, reiterating on the public's trust issues with the company following a hack last year and stating simply, “I’m increasingly skeptical of their chance to really make a dent.”

Less than two weeks before Intel announces new desktop Skylake processors, likely to be used in future Macs, at the Gamescom trade show in Germany on August 5, FanlessTech has leaked an Intel slide deck that offers a closer look at some of the performance enhancements the next-generation processors will deliver for both desktop computers and notebooks.

The leaked slides reveal that Skylake processors will provide a 10%-20% CPU performance boost in single and multi-threaded applications, with lower power consumption, and 30% faster Intel HD integrated graphics performance on average compared to current-generation Broadwell processors. The improved energy efficiency will also result in up to 30% longer battery life.

The specific performance improvements to the four main Skylake families are outlined below based on preliminary data, with the MacBook model appropriate for each chip listed in parentheses:

- Y-Series (MacBook): Up to 17% faster CPU, up to 41% faster Intel HD graphics, up to 1.4 hours longer battery life
- U-Series (MacBook Air): Up to 10% faster CPU, up to 34% faster Intel HD graphics, up to 1.4 hours longer battery life
- H-Series (MacBook Pro): Up to 11% faster CPU, up to 16% faster Intel HD graphics, up to 80% lower silicon power
- S-Series (iMac): Up to 11% faster CPU, up to 28% faster Intel HD graphics, 22% lower TDP (thermal design power)

Apple refreshed the MacBook Air and 13" Retina MacBook Pro with the latest Broadwell processors in March, but the refreshed 15" Retina MacBook Pro released in May remains powered by two-year-old Haswell architecture due to the lack of quad-core Broadwell processors appropriate for the notebook at the time.

Given that Intel announced a trio of Core i7 processors appropriate for the 15" Retina MacBook Pro just weeks later, and both the iMac and Mac mini still have Haswell processors, it is plausible that Apple has chosen to skip Broadwell processors entirely and release Skylake-based Macs in late 2015 or early 2016 -- and the jump from Haswell to Skylake would deliver an even higher performance boost.

Taiwanese blog DigiTimes, which has a hit-and-miss track record at reporting on Apple's upcoming product plans, says that Intel is planning to launch 18 new Skylake processors for notebooks in the fourth quarter, starting in October. The mid-range and high-end processors could be used in the next-generation 12-inch MacBook, MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro.

Apple has stopped selling the Nest Learning Thermostat and the Nest Smoke Alarm in its stores and has confirmed to Mashable that it will no longer be carrying Nest products. The Nest thermostat was still available online earlier this month, but a search for the Nest thermostat or smoke alarm now redirects customers to other HomeKit products.

Apple's decision to stop offering Google's Nest products in its retail stores and online comes just over a month after the first HomeKit-compatible products became available for purchase. In early June, Lutron, iHome, Elgato, Ecobee, and Insteon began offering a range of smart lights, plugs, thermostats, room monitors, and more, all of which work with HomeKit.

The HomeKit-compatible Ecobee3 smart thermostat is a direct competitor of the Nest, so it's no surprise Apple has opted to stop offering Google's products in order to highlight accessories that are compatible with its own smart home platform.

This isn't the first time Apple has stopped offering products that directly compete with its own product offerings. Last year, the company stopped selling Fitbit activity tracking devices ahead of the launch of the Apple Watch and also culled several other activity trackers from its store earlier this year.

Apple's decision to stop selling the Nest thermostat comes as the company is working to revamp accessory lineups in its retail stores, cutting back on the number of accessories offered and packaging many of them in boxes that match its own design aesthetic.

Honda today at its high-tech research facility in Mountain View introduced its new 2016 Accord with support for both CarPlay and Android Auto, reports Re/code. The ninth-generation sedan will be the first Honda vehicle to support CarPlay as the Japanese car maker aims to expand the iPhone-based dashboard system across its vehicle lineup throughout 2016 and beyond.

Apple has listed Honda as a CarPlay partner on its website for several months, but the car maker has not been entirely clear about its launch plans until today. GM is also committed to supporting CarPlay in 2016 across its Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC vehicle brands, while Kenwood recently began shipping its lineup of aftermarket CarPlay and Android Auto systems.

An image said to depict the front panel of the upcoming "iPhone 6s" has been shared by French site Nowhereelse.fr [Google Translate] this afternoon, giving us our first glimpse at the screen for the device.

According to the site, the front panel images were shared by an informant who also said that the iPhone parts are currently in production and ready to be shipped to iPhone 6s assembly lines for use in the Silver and Gold iPhone 6s.

As an "S" upgrade, the iPhone 6s and the iPhone 6s Plus are not expected to feature physical design changes, so as is expected, the front panels said to be for the iPhone 6s look identical to front panels for the iPhone 6. Previous iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus part leaks have also confirmed that the casings for the device carry the same design as the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, but there may be small design improvements and material changes to bolster strength and durability.

Nowhereelse.fr mentions that its source could not confirm if the panel included sapphire crystal or hints of Force Touch support. While the addition of Force Touch has been widely rumored for Apple's next-generation iPhones, sapphire crystal displays are not expected and the devices are likely to continue using Gorilla Glass. While there were a few rumors hinting at the possibility of sapphire for the next-generation iPhones, rumors about such a feature have not picked up and no new sapphire deals have become apparent.

Along with Force Touch, the next-generation iPhones are rumored to include an improved 12-megapixel camera, an A9 processor, better Touch ID support, 2GB RAM, and a new rose gold color option.

Mass production of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus is rumored to be beginning this month, with early production having started in late June.

Apple today declared its support for the Equality Act of 2015, introduced by members of congress this afternoon. The Equality Act would expand the Civil Rights Act of 1964, adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the legislation that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin.

In a statement to the Human Rights Campaign, Apple echoed sentiments on equality that it has shared several times before:

At Apple we believe in equal treatment for everyone, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, how they worship or who they love. We fully support the expansion of legal protections as a matter of basic human dignity.

The Equality Act will ensure full federal equality for all LGBT Americans, including those who live in the 31 states that do not currently have non-discrimination legislation, protecting LBGT citizens from discrimination when seeking jobs, housing, public accommodations, education, and more.

Cook himself has made several impassioned speeches on non-discrimination and equality and has publicly opposed harmful religious freedom legislation. Last fall, Cook became the first Fortune 500 CEO to publicly come out as gay, an announcement he made in an effort to "bring comfort to anyone who feels alone" and to "inspire people to insist on their equality."

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.

The latest numbers from research firm IDC reveal that the premium smartphone market continues to be a largely two-horse race between Samsung and Apple, which accounted for 21.7% and 14.1% market share in the second quarter respectively. The rival tech companies combined for 35.8% quarterly market share, finishing well ahead of emerging Chinese competitors Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo during the three-month period ending June 30.

IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker shows that smartphone vendors shipped a total of 337.2 million smartphones worldwide in the second quarter, an 11.6% increase from the 302.1 million units shipped in the year-ago quarter. The growth was driven by not only premium devices sold by Apple and Samsung, but also the growing number of affordable handsets available in emerging countries such as China and India.

Apple increased 2.4 percentage points to 14.1% during the second quarter compared to its 11.7% market share in the year-ago quarter, while market leader Samsung experienced a year-over-year decline as its market share slipped from 24.8% to 21.7%. Apple closed the gap on the continued strength of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, with the company announcing it sold 47.5 million iPhones in the third quarter of the fiscal year earlier this week.

Apple and Samsung continue to dominate the smartphone operating system race, trailed by Huawei, Xiaomi and Lenovo with 8.9%, 5.3% and 4.8% market share in the second quarter respectively. All other smartphone makers accounted for a combined 45.2% quarterly market share. Overall mobile phone shipments in the second quarter reached 464.6 million units worldwide.

Apple today launched its annual Back to School promotion, offering a free pair of Beats Solo2 On-Ear headphones to qualifying students, parents of students and educators that purchase an eligible Mac, including the iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and Mac Pro. As usual, the Mac mini and refurbished Macs are excluded from the deal. iPhones and iPads are also absent from this year's promotion.

Apple will apply an instant credit in the amount of $199.95 to cover the full cost of the Beats Solo 2 On-Ear headphones in gloss black, white, red, blue, gray or pink. Apple is also offering the option to upgrade to Beats Solo2 Wireless On-Ear Headphones in space gray, silver or gold for $100 extra, which is the remaining balance after the $199.95 credit is applied.

Apple's Back to School promotion offered up to a $100 Apple Store gift card with the purchase of a qualifying Mac, iPhone or iPad in past years, including the 2014 and 2013 promotions, but the iPhone and iPad are not included in this year's deal. Apple has outlined the full eligibility requirements for the program in its terms and conditions for the United States [PDF] and Canada [PDF] on its website.

Apple has traditionally launched its Back to School program during June or early July, with the second Tuesday of July being the target date for several years in a row, but this year's launch has come later in the month than expected. Apple has also moved away from offering free Apple Store or iTunes gift cards for the first time since offering a free iPod touch with a qualifying Mac in 2010 and prior.

Apple's Back to School promotion runs from today through September 18, 2015 at Apple Retail Stores, and between August 6, 2015 and September 18, 2015 on the Apple Online Store, in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. Apple has not yet officially announced the promotion in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark or several other European countries that have offered the deal in previous years.

Juli Clover contributed to this report.

Update 9:30 AM Pacific: Apfelpage.de and iFun.de report that the same promotion will be offered in Germany starting August 6.