MacRumors

With Apple's MacBook Pro line now widely rumored to be gaining ultra high-resolution "Retina" or "HiDPI" displays at next month's Worldwide Developers Conference, CNET reports that such panels are already available in the supply chain and that they carry price premiums of up to $100 over their non-Retina counterparts. But what remains to be seen is whether that price difference will be passed along to consumers or if Apple will find ways to cut costs in other areas in order to maintain its existing price points.

DisplaySearch Senior Analyst Richard Shim says that super high-resolution 13.3-inch and 15.4-inch panels that Apple would be a prime candidate to use are already available from suppliers.

"We're seeing it at 15.4 (inches)," Shim said in an interview yesterday. "You can get it."

According to Shim, a Retina 15.4-inch display at 2880x1800 resolution for a density of 220 pixels per inch (ppi) currently costs approximately $160, a $92 increase over Apple's estimated cost of $68 for the current display in the 15-inch MacBook Pro. In the smaller 13-inch MacBook Pro, a Retina display at 2560x1600 costs $134, a $65 premium over the display used in the current model.

Unaddressed is the 17-inch MacBook Pro, which would require a display of 3840x2400 and undoubtedly carry an even higher price premium over the current display. It is unclear, however, whether the 17-inch MacBook Pro will be receiving the same upgrades as the rest of the family at WWDC, as most rumors so far have pointed to only 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models being in production. In addition, Apple has been rumored to be following the pattern of its transition to the unibody MacBook Pro design in moving the 17-inch model to the new form factor several months after its smaller siblings.

Shim notes that with these Retina resolution displays available in the supply chain, Apple is the most likely customer for the screens, although he has been unable to confirm what company or companies are purchasing them for use in their computers.

Also unclear is how Apple will handle the cost increase associated with the Retina displays. While some cost savings will be achievable by the removal of the optical drive, Apple will almost certainly see increased costs for storage as the MacBook Pro reportedly moves from traditional hard drives to solid-state drives. While such drives are used in the lower-priced MacBook Air models, higher-end users expected to be drawn to the MacBook Pro will likely demand higher-capacity drives at significantly greater costs. Consequently, it will be interesting to see how Apple ends up pricing the redesigned MacBook Pro given all the changes involved.

U.S. cellular carrier Verizon is planning to move its customers who still have unlimited data plans for their smartphones to its new family data-share plans as customers switch to LTE data plans.

The iPhone was initially offered with unlimited data plans when it launched on Verizon early last year, but the carrier soon dropped the unlimited option in favor of data plans with allocations of data.

Fierce Wireless has the details, quoting Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo at a JP Morgan conference:

As these 3G unlimited data plan customers migrate to 4G LTE, they will have to purchase the company's data-share plan (which Verizon plans to launch in mid-summer) and move off the $30 per month unlimited data plan. "Everyone will be on data share," Shammo said.

Verizon currently throttles its unlimited data users only when a particular cell tower is overloaded, whereas competitor AT&T slows its unlimited users after they use 3GB of data in a month. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson recently noted that his one regret about bringing the iPhone to AT&T was offering unlimited data.

Sprint, the number three carrier in the country -- and the only carrier to still offer unlimited data packages for the iPhone -- has said it will continue to offer unlimited data plans for the iPhone, even if the next iPhone includes LTE, as is expected.

Digitimes' poor track record has been thrust into the spotlight in recent days, but that hasn't stopped one of the Taiwanese news site's reports from having a major effect on stock prices for Samsung and Hynix. The report from earlier this week claims that Apple has placed "huge" orders for DRAM chips with Elpida, soaking up half of the capacity at the firm's main plant in Hiroshima, Japan.

As noted by Reuters, the rumor has had a significant effect on fellow DRAM manufacturers Samsung and Hynix, with Samsung losing $10 billion in market value today in a 6% stock decline. The smaller Hynix was down nearly 9%

"It looks like Apple doesn't want to see Samsung and hynix dominate the chip market. Apple wants to maintain its bargaining power by keeping Elpida running," said Choi Do-yeon, an analyst at LIG Investment & Securities.

Elpida filed for bankruptcy in late February, and Micron has emerged as a likely acquirer for the company. The combined Micron-Elpida would be a strong competitor in the DRAM market, sparking concerns for others in the competitive industry.

DRAM, the volatile memory used to hold active applications and other data for use while a device is in operation, is a commodity in the consumer electronics market, with Apple routinely sourcing from multiple suppliers and shifting orders to achieve the best pricing.

Last December, Apple won a U.S. International Trade Commission case against HTC, with the agency ruling that several of HTC's handsets infringed upon a pair of Apple-held patents. The agency's ruling included a ban on the import of infringing devices beginning in April, although HTC quickly responded to say that it had already designed a workaround for the issue in question.

But as reported by The Verge late yesterday, U.S. Customs officials have delayed shipments of HTC's new One X and Evo 4G LTE handsets into the United States as it investigates whether those handsets also infringe upon Apple's patents.

We've learned today that the One X and Evo 4G LTE are indefinitely delayed at Customs as the agency investigates patent issues with Apple, and sources have further confirmed that some shipments are indeed being held back. The One X is also currently out of stock at AT&T's online store and at most AT&T retail stores we've called — and few had any information on when more units would arrive.

HTC issued a follow-up statement confirming the customs hold and indicating that it is working to secure the release of the shipments.

The US availability of the HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed due to a standard U.S. Customs review of shipments that is required after an ITC exclusion order. We believe we are in compliance with the ruling and HTC is working closely with Customs to secure approval. The HTC One X and HTC Evo 4G LTE have been received enthusiastically by customers and we appreciate their patience as we work to get these products into their hands as soon as possible.

Dow Jones Newswires provides more information today, noting that HTC will need to delay the launch of the Evo 4G LTE, which had been scheduled to debut on Sprint this Friday, May 18. In addition, AT&T is experiencing shortages of the One X due to the customs hold, although some units were able to enter the country before the import ban went into effect on April 19.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has placed orders for screens measuring "at least 4 inches diagonally" for the next-generation iPhone, marking a significant increase in size over the displays used in every iPhone model released to date.

Apple Inc., which is expected to launch its next-generation iPhone later this year, has ordered screens from its Asian suppliers that are bigger than the ones used in iPhones since they debuted in 2007, people familiar with the situation said.

Production is set to begin next month for the screens, which measure at least 4 inches diagonally compared with 3.5 inches on the iPhone 4S, the latest phone from Apple, the people said.

Apple is reportedly working with LG, Sharp, and Japan Display (the newly-merged display businesses of Sony, Hitachi, and Toshiba) on the new screen.

The Wall Street Journal's report does not specify what aspect ratio the larger display will use, and other rumors have conflicted on whether Apple will maintain the existing ratio or increase the screen's height while keeping the width consistent with existing models.

Update: Reuters has filed its own report making similar claims, although one of its sources seems more firm that the screen will measure 4 inches diagonally, as opposed to the "at least 4 inches" reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Apple Inc plans to use a larger screen on the next-generation iPhone and has begun to place orders for the new displays from suppliers in South Korea and Japan, people familiar with the situation said on Wednesday. [...]

The new iPhone screens will measure 4 inches from corner to corner, one of the sources said.

Sony Pictures today announced that Aaron Sorkin will indeed serve as the screenwriter for the studio's upcoming film adaptation of Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Steve Jobs. Sorkin, who is famous for his work on The West Wing, The Social Network, Moneyball, and A Few Good Men, noted late last year that he was "strongly considering" taking on the project.

Commenting on the announcement, [Sony Pictures Co-Chairman Amy] Pascal said, "Steve Jobs' story is unique: he was one of the most revolutionary and influential men not just of our time but of all time. There is no writer working in Hollywood today who is more capable of capturing such an extraordinary life for the screen than Aaron Sorkin; in his hands, we're confident that the film will be everything that Jobs himself was: captivating, entertaining, and polarizing."

Casting for the film has yet to be determined, but rumors have suggested that George Clooney and Noah Wyle may be in the running for the role of Jobs. Wyle portrayed Jobs in the 1999 made-for-TV film The Pirates of Silicon Valley, which focused on the early days of Jobs and Bill Gates.

The project is a completely separate effort from an independent film about Jobs that has Ashton Kutcher starring in the lead role. Just last week, Kutcher was spotted wearing Jobs' trademark wardrobe en route to the film's set, where filming is currently underway while Kutcher is on a break from his television show Two and a Half Men.

Tim Cook met with Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) today. It is unknown what the topic of discussion was, but it's possible that Cook was lobbying Boehner to pass a tax holiday that would allow Apple and other companies with large overseas tax holdings to bring back their earnings at a lower corporate tax rate.

As of its most recent earnings call, Apple held $74 billion of its $110 billion in cash and marketable securities offshore.

With long-running rumors of ultra high-resolution "Retina" displays for Apple's next-generation MacBook Pro receiving a significant boost with reports from several sources surfacing yesterday and similar upgrades now being rumored for the iMac, fans of the MacBook Air have been awaiting word on when they might expect Apple's smallest Mac notebooks to gain the feature.

9to5Mac now reports that Apple is indeed unsurprisingly planning to bring Retina displays to the MacBook Air, with that upgrade being the most significant change for the next-generation line.

Apple’s new MacBook Air will not see major changes across the entire computer like the next-generation MacBook Pro, but this update will truly be all about the Retina Display. [...]

Apple is preparing both new 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch models. These new Airs lack notable design changes, but feature fast and power-efficient Ivy Bridge processors and improved graphics engines to support the Retina Display, according to supply chain sources. The new Airs will also use improved Apple internal battery technology in order to support the battery life required by high-pixel-density screens such as the Retina Display, according to sources familiar with prototype versions of the super-thin notebook’s internal components.

The report's source suggests that the updated MacBook Air is unlikely to appear at next month's Worldwide Developers Conference, with Apple still working to meet the Retina display's power requirements within the MacBook Air's thin form factor.

Apple is also reportedly undecided on whether it will include USB 3.0 in the next-generation MacBook Air. The USB 3.0 standard, offering higher data transfer speeds, is reportedly being included on the revamped MacBook Pro, but the company is still weighing whether it wants to bring the standard to its lower-priced MacBook Air line.

Bloomberg briefly reports that Apple and Disney are in talks to bring sports network ESPN's WatchESPN application [App Store] to the Apple TV set-top box.

ESPN subscribers with AppleTV would gain access to the network’s Internet service on their TV sets. [Sean] Bratches, the network’s executive vice president of affiliate and advertising sales, spoke in an interview today.

The brief report doesn't specify exactly how access to the WatchESPN functionality on the Apple TV would work, but currently customers of a number of cable and Internet companies have varying levels of access to the app's content on iOS and other platforms, which includes nearly all of ESPN's live broadcasts including online-only ESPN3 content.

Currently, cable subscribers through Comcast, Time Warner, Verizon FiOS, and Bright House have full access to WatchESPN content, while subscribers on a host of other Internet services can receive access to the ESPN3 content through the app.

iOS device users who are eligible to access WatchESPN content can currently send the content to an Apple TV via AirPlay, but including the app directly on the Apple TV would streamline that process.

Update: Bloomberg has expanded its article with additional comments from Bratches:

“We’re a platform-agnostic content company,” Bratches, the network’s executive vice president of affiliate and advertising sales, said today in an interview. “To the extent that in the future there’s an opportunity with Apple to authenticate through the pay-TV food chain as we’re doing with Microsoft, that’s something that we will participate in.”

Update 2: Bloomberg has updated its article once again, citing comments from an ESPN spokesperson backtracking from Bratches' statements by noting that there are no active talks with Apple underway.

No deal is imminent with Apple, said Amy Phillips, a spokeswoman for Bristol, Connecticut-based ESPN.

“We’re not having conversations with Apple about authenticating WatchESPN,” Phillips said.

More than four years after Psystar challenged Apple by first selling $399 unauthorized Mac clones and later shifting tactics to offer software supporting installation of Mac OS X Snow Leopard on PCs, the dispute between the two companies has finally reached its conclusion. As noted by CNET, Psystar's persistent legal appeals have now been exhausted as the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review an appellate court ruling from last September upholding a ban on Psystar's sales of Mac clones.

Following a rejection of Psystar's appeal to that decision in September, the company's lawyers vowed to take it up to the Supreme Court. "This is far from over," K.A.D. Camara of Houston law firm Camara & Sibley LLP told Computerworld in an interview. The company kept to its word, and filed for a review from the Supreme Court on December 27, 2011.

"We are sad," Camara told CNET by e-mail this evening. "I'm sure that the Supreme Court will take a case on this important issue eventually."

Psystar's persistence that saw the company press the issue with Apple as far as the courts would allow led Apple to suggest a potential conspiracy, questioning why a small company would be so bold in the face of Apple's legal action and how it could have financed the expensive court battles. No such conspiracy was ever revealed, however, with Psystar's financial backing remaining something of a mystery.

While Apple was quick to file suit against Psystar in July 2008 and an initial injunction against Psystar effectively shut down the company in December 2009, the court cases continued to play out over an additional period of nearly two and half years. Psystar attempted to fund its legal defense during some of that time by soliciting donations and selling T-shirts, and did somehow manage to secure enough funding to support filing several more appeals taking the case all the way to the Supreme Court.

As part of ABC News' roundup of the latest MacBook Pro rumors, Joanna Stern claims that not only the MacBook Pro family but also the iMac line is set to gain ultra high-resolution "Retina" displays.

The laptop will see the introduction of the “Mac Retina Display,” which is said to have a very high resolution. ABC News has similarly heard from its own sources that both the next MacBook Pro and the iMac would be getting very, very high resolution displays. Apple refreshed its new iPad with a Retina Display in March.

The MacBook Pro has long been the focus of the Retina or HiDPI display rumors, but it seems natural that Apple would want to move all of its displays to the standard. What is unclear, however, is just how Apple will implement the increased resolution given that most Macs already approach Retina resolution at typical viewing distances.

Many have assumed that Apple will follow the model used in the iPhone and iPad, doubling the resolution in each dimension with a screen carrying four times the pixels of its predecessor. That specific suggestion has already been made in regards to a rumored 15-inch MacBook Pro with 2880x1800 display compared to the 1440x900 display in the current model.

But as screen sizes get even larger, quadrupling the number of pixels starts to bump up against the hardware capabilities of graphics chips and display interface standards. While a 17-inch MacBook Pro coming in at a Retina resolution of 3840x2400 might be possible, the more significant issues surface with the iMac, which is also gaining higher-resolution displays according to today's report.

The 21.5-inch iMac would see a pixel count in the range of the 17-inch MacBook Pro as its 1920x1080 resolution would be bumped to 3840x2160, but the 27-inch iMac would move from its current resolution of 2560x1440 to a monster Retina display at 5120x2880. The same panel could also be used in a revised Apple Thunderbolt Display should hardware be able to support the resolution.

Consequently, some have suggested that Apple would increase display resolution on its Mac lines by a smaller amount than seen on iOS devices, with current variation in pixel density among Mac models already introducing some flexibility in interface element sizes. But with most Mac models offering pixel densities in the range of 100-130 pixels per inch (ppi), moving to a somewhat higher density such as 160-170 ppi to qualify as a Retina display still imposes some difficulties for developers and users.

While user interface elements do vary in physical size depending on the machine they are displayed on, they are designed to be usable in the typical range of 100-130 ppi. Moving to something in the range of 160-170 ppi, for example, could result in user interface elements becoming too small for users to click on with ease unless applications are specifically updated with new elements designed for that pixel density range. Otherwise, elements could be scaled to approximate the physical size seen on lower-resolution displays, but this scaling would undoubtedly degrade image quality.

David Barnard has argued that Apple could still use the pixel doubling motif on larger Mac displays without necessarily having to quadruple the number of actual pixels if users would be willing to accept a smaller workspace than seen on current machines. In one example, Barnard describes how rather than moving the current 2560x1440 27-inch iMac all the way to 5120x2880, Apple could instead offer a display at 3840x2400 that would present itself with a Retina workspace of 1920x1200.

Apple could build a 3840 by 2400 pixel 27-inch screen that presented itself as a pixel doubled 1920 by 1200 pixel display. That’s effectively an 84ppi screen @1X and 168ppi screen @2X. [...]

What you should notice is that the text and UI elements are physically smaller on the current 109ppi iMac than they’d be on the hypothetical 84/168ppi 27-inch iMac. This may be frustrating to some users, but I actually prefer my old 94ppi 24-inch Cinema Display to any of Apple's higher PPI displays. I like that the system default 12pt text is larger. The sacrifice is in the usable workspace, and that’s a matter of taste.

So while Apple appears to face some challenges in bringing its Retina display concept to the Mac, the company seems to be committed to making the transition. It simply remains to be seen how the company will implement the move, as hardware rumors and hints within OS X Lion and Mountain Lion are certainly pointing toward Retina Mac displays sooner rather than later.

As long ago as last November, SemiAccurate claimed that Apple would be switching back to NVIDIA from AMD for the graphics chips in the next-generation MacBook Pro. With MacBook Pro rumors flooding out today, that claim is gathering renewed momentum from several sources.

In its roundup of the latest MacBook Pro rumors, ABC News specifically claims that Apple will be using NVIDIA graphics chips in the new MacBook Pro reportedly set for introduction at next month's Worldwide Developers Conference.

The new laptops are expected to be powered by Intel’s latest processors, called Ivy Bridge. Those processors will be faster than the current generation of Intel processors and improve graphics. However, the laptops will also get a graphics boost from Nvidia’s latest graphics, the GeForce GT 650M card. ABC News has heard the same from its sources, which say Apple will move from AMD to Nvidia graphics chips in this version of the MacBook Pro.

The Verge offers similar claims, with the growing reports suggesting that the switch from AMD to NVIDIA may indeed be taking place.

Apple's updated MacBook Pro rumored to arrive this summer will feature Nvidia graphics alongside Intel's Ivy Bridge processors, a switch from the AMD GPUs in the current models. The news comes to us directly from a trusted source, and it's further corroborated by Joanna Stern at ABC News, whose sources also tell her that the new machines will indeed feature high resolution Retina Displays.

Apple has moved back and forth between NVIDIA and AMD several times over the years, taking advantage of whichever graphics chip firm is offering the better product with the right pricing and timing. Consequently, a shift to NVIDIA should not be taken as an indication that it is a long-term decision, although Apple has been rumored to be making a similar move for the Mac Pro.

Bloomberg confirms a report from earlier today that Apple is preparing to release thinner MacBook Pro models with Retina displays.

The models are to be released at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference on June 11 and will also include flash memory to "cut startup times and extend battery life". The report is likely a "controlled leak", something that Apple PR has been known to do in the past to share product details.

Apple Inc. is preparing a new lineup of thinner MacBook laptops running on more powerful chips made by Intel Corp., people with knowledge of the plans said.

The MacBook Pro machines, to be unveiled at Apple’s annual developers conference starting June 11, also will feature high- definition screens like those on the iPhone and iPad, as well as flash memory to cut startup times and extend battery life, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans haven’t been made public.

The MacBook Pro lineup was last updated in October of 2011, though it hasn't had a substantial redesign since 2008.

Bloomberg also suggested that Apple will announce the launch date of the OS X Mountain Lion release that Apple previewed earlier this year.