MacRumors

Apple is no longer expected to announce any new Apple silicon Macs during the remainder of this year, according to reports. With no new Macs on the horizon for 2022, Apple's product lineup is "set" for the rest of the year, according to the company's CEO Tim Cook. Now, all eyes are on 2023.

Apple released many new products in 2022, including a completely redesigned MacBook Air, the iPhone 14 and ‌iPhone 14‌ Pro, new iPads, the Apple Watch Ultra, and more. One product missing from Apple's list of 2022 announcements is the company's long-rumored AR/VR headset, which has been in development for several years.

The development of Apple's headset, which may be called "Apple Reality Pro," has ramped up in the last year, and Apple's finally expected to unveil the headset next year after multiple delays. According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, a reliable source for supply chain-related information, Apple will announce the headset in a few months' time during an event in January of 2023.

Other reliable sources have all indicated the headset will be announced sometime next year. Still, other than Kuo's report, no further information on when exactly Apple may decide to announce it has been reported. If Kuo's information is proven accurate, it would be the first Apple event in January since a special event in 2010, where Steve Jobs announced the iPad.

The headset will be Apple's biggest product announcement since the original Apple Watch, so Apple may decide to dedicate an entire event to the headset rather than including it at another event, such as WWDC.

For the last three years, a headset reveal at WWDC has remained a possibility since the announcement of the headset will likely include the revealing of realityOS, an entirely new operating system and platform for developers that will run on Apple's future AR/VR products.

Apple's last event of 2022 was in September for the ‌iPhone 14‌, the new AirPods Pro, and a new lineup of Apple Watch models. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported last month that Apple had canceled plans to hold another event this fall in October dedicated to new iPads and Mac models. In a recent Power On newsletter, Gurman said that Apple held off with another event this year to save "marketing energy for the Reality Pro headset debut next year."

When the headset does get announced, it could be one of Apple's most expensive products. The headset is expected to be a niche product targeted at developers and high-end professionals, with a price tag of around $3,000. Apple is already working on a cheaper model of the headset, which will be followed by a pair of augmented reality glasses later this decade.

Do you think Apple's AR/VR headset is the next product announcement from Apple? Let us know in the comments.

With the release of macOS Ventura last month, Apple updated its stock Mail app with several long-awaited features, including the ability to remind you if you forget to add an attachment or recipient. However, it turns out that Mail incorrectly parses email addresses included in signatures as missing recipients.

"The new feature that is currently bothering me is Mail's new ability to remind me if I forget an attachment or recipient," writes 512 Pixels' Stephen Hackett, who was first to highlight the problem.

"Gmail and others have had this for years, and it's honestly great," he says. "It's just too bad that Mail doesn't seem to understand that some people put their email addresses in their email signatures."

"As you can see in this screenshot [above], Mail has started warning me every time I send a message that the email address in my footer has been left off the recipient list.

"This is a shockingly dumb catch on Mail's part because the application should know what I have set up using its own Signatures feature. It's literally right there in the app's own settings."

Hackett has filed feedback with Apple to hopefully address the problem in a future update, but until then it's worth bearing in mind that Mail will continually bug you to add any addresses in your signatures as missing recipients before it lets you send messages on their way.

iCloud Mail has been experiencing an issue over the past few hours and is currently down for some users, according to Apple's system status page.

There have been a number of reports on Twitter and from MacRumors readers over the past few hours, although the volume of reports doesn't seem terribly high, so the issue may be affecting only a relatively small percentage of users.

Apple says the ‌iCloud‌ Mail service may be "slow or unavailable," but no other ‌iCloud‌ services are currently listed as affected.

Update 1:05 a.m.: Apple says the issue has been fixed after more than nine hours.

Following the launch of iOS 16.1 on October 24, Apple has stopped signing iOS 16.0.3, the previously available version of iOS that launched on October 10. As iOS 16.0.3 is no longer being signed, it is no longer possible to downgrade to that version of iOS after installing iOS 16.1.

Apple routinely stops signing older versions of software updates after new releases come out in order to encourage customers to keep their operating systems up to date, so it is not unusual that iOS 16.0.3 is no longer being signed.

iOS 16.0.3 was a smaller bug fix update that addressed bugs that were plaguing the iPhone 14 and ‌iPhone 14‌ Pro models.

The iOS 16.1 update that replaced it is much larger in scale, introducing iCloud Shared Photo Library, Live Activities for the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, support for the Matter smart home standard, Clean Energy Charging, and more, with details available in our iOS 16.1 guide.

Amazon today announced an expansion of Amazon Music, which is now available almost in full to Amazon Prime subscribers. Amazon is providing Amazon Prime users with access to the full catalog of 100 million Amazon Music songs, up from the original two million songs that were available.

Amazon Prime subscribers are not getting unlimited on-demand access to Amazon Music tracks, but the full catalog is available when using shuffle mode. Songs are ad-free, and users can create playlists that are tailored to personalized listening preferences. Shuffle play is available for any artist, album, or playlist.

The experience will be similar to other services like Pandora that offer radio station-based content rather than in-demand access to all songs. Amazon Prime's new feature will not directly compete with Apple Music because ‌Apple Music‌ does offer on-demand music, but it could cause customers who prefer radio stations and playlists to swap over.

Amazon is not charging Prime subscribers more for the Amazon Music access, and Prime continues to be priced at $14.99 per month or $139 per year.

Along with access to the full Amazon Music catalog, Amazon is offering Prime users access to popular ad-free podcasts and new Amazon Exclusive podcasts, with full information available on Amazon's blog post announcing the changes.

Popular franchise Football Manager is set to expand to Apple Arcade with the upcoming launch of Football Manager 2023 Touch. The game is set to launch on Tuesday, November 8.

Football Manager 2023 Touch allows players to take on the role of a football manager, overseeing the best football teams in the world. Developed by Sports Interactive and published by SEGA, Football Manager is popular in the UK and other countries.

Players can choose from more than 120 leagues around the world, using scouts to assemble a team of superstars. There are pre-set tactical templates modeled on popular styles, and on Matchdays, there are options to watch the action from the digital dugout or use the "Instant Result" option to skip to full time.

Football Manager 2023 Touch will be available on the iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV, and it can be played across all three devices with game progress saved in iCloud. Game controller support is available.

Later this month, ‌Apple Arcade‌ is also set to gain SpongeBob SolitairePants along with two classic games, Battleheart+ Legacy and Old Man's Journey+. ‌Apple Arcade‌ is priced at $4.99 per month, and up to six family members can play games for that price.

Apple supplier Foxconn is quadrupling daily bonuses provided to workers in order to retain enough employees to continue assembling iPhones, reports Reuters. In November, Foxconn is offering workers at its Zhengzhou plant a bonus of 400 yuan per day ($55), up 4x from the normal 100 yuan bonus.

Employees who work for more than 25 days can get a maximum bonus of 5,000 yuan for the month, up from 1,500 yuan, and those who put in "full effort" can earn a bonus of over 15,000 yuan. Most workers earn between 3,000 and 4,000 yuan on a monthly basis.

Foxconn employs around 200,000 people in Zhengzhou, the factory that is used for most of its iPhone production. Foxconn is responsible for assembling around 70 percent of the iPhones that Apple sells, and it has been struggling to keep employees on site due to COVID lockdowns.

Because of China's zero-COVID policy, Chinese cities are required to quickly quell outbreaks through restrictions, and with COVID spreading in Zhengzhou, workers have wanted to return home to avoid being stuck at the factory should there be a more stringent lockdown. Workers have also been unhappy with restrictions at the factory, such as the closure of the dine-in cafeteria, and a shortage of supplies that caused a panic.

Employee issues at the Zhengzhou plant could cause ‌iPhone‌ output to fall as much as 30 percent, though Foxconn is working to mitigate the supply issues by offering the bonuses and ramping up production at another factory in Shenzhen.

Alongside the 10th-generation iPad, Apple introduced a new Magic Keyboard Folio. Priced at $249, the Magic Keyboard Folio is just $200 less than the $449 ‌iPad‌, so we thought we'd check it out to determine whether it's worth the asking price.

The Magic Keyboard Folio has a unique design compared to other Magic Keyboard options for iPads, with Apple offering both a case and a detachable keyboard that can be used independently of one another.

It has a full selection of keys, including a row of 14 function keys that aren't available on the iPad Pro version of the Magic Keyboard, and it comes with a built-in trackpad. The keys have a standard scissor mechanism with 1mm travel for comfortable typing, and there is an included stand that can be adjusted to different viewing angles.

Someone who wants to use the 10th-generation ‌iPad‌ for composing emails, browsing the web, and other writing tasks may want to invest in the keyboard as it does turn the ‌iPad‌ into a versatile Mac-like machine that's ideal for working at home or on the go. There are cheaper keyboards on the market, but Apple has built a lot of functionality into the Magic Keyboard Folio, which will make it worth the cost for some users.

What do you think of the Magic Keyboard Folio? Let us know in the comments below.

Twitter chief Elon Musk today said that the cost of the Twitter Blue subscription is going to be priced at $8 per month, which would be an increase of $3 over the current $4.99 per month price.

Twitter Blue will include priority in replies, mentions, and search, which Musk says is "essential to defeat spam/scam," the ability to post longer video and audio clips, and half as many ads.

Musk also implied that Twitter Blue would offer subscribers a blue checkmark for verification purposes, a feature that is currently limited to those at risk of identity theft such as celebrities, journalists, and other notable influencers.

Twitter Blue pricing will be adjusted by country "proportionate to purchasing power parity," and Musk said there will be some kind of "paywall bypass" for publishers that are "willing to work with [Twitter]."

It is not clear what that last bit means, but Twitter very abruptly ended Twitter Blue ad-free access to news sites that participated in the program. MacRumors partnered with Twitter to provide Twitter Blue subscribers with ad-free articles, and on October 31, Twitter sent out notifications that ad-free articles would be disabled as of the close of the business day.

In the email, the Twitter Blue team said that resources will be instead focused on "adding additional value" for Twitter Blue members, and that an update to Twitter Blue would be debuted "in the coming weeks."

Musk is working rapidly to monetize Twitter, as the social network has historically not been particularly profitable. Musk became Twitter's CEO last Friday, and he let go of multiple Twitter executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and policy lead Vijaya Gadde.

In addition to introducing changes to Twitter Blue, Musk has also said that he plans to bring back video service Vine. Rumors suggest that Musk has shifted more than 50 Tesla engineers over to Twitter to work on the new features.

New EU rules came into force today that could compel Apple to let users access third-party app stores and permit app sideloading on iPhones and iPads, among other sweeping changes designed to make the digital sector fairer and more competitive.

Under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the rules will apply to tech giants that meet its "gatekeeper" criteria and force them to open up their various services and platforms to other companies and developers.

Apple is almost certain to be classified as a "gatekeeper" due to the size of its annual turnover in the EU, its ownership and operation of platforms with a large number of active users, and its "entrenched and durable position" due to how long it has met these criteria, and will therefore be subject to the rules set out in the DMA.

The DMA could force Apple to make major changes to the way the App Store, Messages, FaceTime, and Siri work in Europe. For example, it could be forced to allow users to install third-party app stores and sideload apps, give developers the ability to closely interoperate with Apple's own services and promote their offers outside the ‌‌App Store‌‌ and use third-party payment systems, and access data gathered by Apple.

One of the more recent additions to the DMA is the requirement to make messaging, voice-calling, and video-calling services interoperable. The interoperability rules theoretically mean that Meta apps like WhatsApp or Messenger could request to interoperate with Apple's iMessage framework, and Apple would be forced to comply within the EU.

The DMA was proposed by the European Commission in December 2020 and agreed by the European Parliament and the Council in record-time, in March 2022. It now moves into a six-month implementation phase and will start to apply on May 2, 2023. After that, within two months and at the latest by July 3, 2023, potential gatekeepers will have to inform the Commission of their core platform services if they meet the thresholds established by the DMA.

Once the Commission has received the complete information, it will have 45 working days to make an assessment as to whether the company in question meets the thresholds and to designate them as gatekeepers. Following their designation, gatekeepers will have six months to comply with the requirements in the DMA, at the latest by March 6, 2024.

"The DMA will change the digital landscape profoundly," said executive vice-president Margrethe Vestager in a statement accompanying a Commission press release. "With it, the EU is taking a pro-active approach to ensuring fair, transparent and contestable digital markets. A small number of large companies hold significant market power in their hands. Gatekeepers enjoying an entrenched position in digital markets will have to show that they are competing fairly. We invite all potential gatekeepers, their competitors or consumer organizations, to come and talk to us about how to best implement the DMA."

If (or more likely, when) Apple is designated a gatekeeper, it will have to make major changes to its ‌iPhone‌ and ‌iPad‌ platforms to accommodate the requirements. In March, before the law was passed, Apple said it was "concerned that some provisions of the DMA will create unnecessary privacy and security vulnerabilities for our users."

Apple is also facing similar legislation in the United States, with U.S. House lawmakers in June introducing antitrust bills that would result in major changes to the tech industry if passed.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News 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.

Amazon today has Apple's 2022 64GB Wi-Fi iPad Air for $519.99, down from $599.00. We first tracked this sale during Prime Early Access, and it's an all-time low price on the new iPad Air.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Today's sale is available in four colors of the iPad Air: Blue, Pink, Space Gray, and Starlight, although the Starlight option is facing delayed shipping estimates. The other three colors are in stock and available to ship today from Amazon.

For even more iPad deals, head to our full Best Deals guide for iPad. In that guide we track the best discounts online for iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro. You can also visit our full Deals Roundup to shop for even more Apple-related products and accessories.

Apple Watch Ultra models recently gained new low-power settings that can extend battery life up to 60 hours on a single charge, or what Apple calls "multi-day adventure battery life." This article explains how it works and how to set it up.

When Apple introduced the ‌Apple Watch Ultra‌ in September, one of the touted features was that it boasts the best battery life of any Apple Watch, capable of reaching up to 36 hours during normal use. Given that successive Apple Watch Series models have only ever officially offered up to 18 hours ("all-day") battery life in normal use, it was pretty big news.

While watchOS 9 brought a new Low Power Mode to Apple Watch Series 4 and later models that also offers up to 36 hours of battery, Apple promised to bring additional low-power settings to Apple Watch Ultra in the fall that would extend battery life even further and make it capable of reaching up to 60 hours.

Since then, Apple has released watchOS 9.1 and the company has followed through on its promise, allowing Ultra owners to eke even more life out of their timepiece. The steps below explain how to enable it, but before you can make use of the new feature, you'll need to make sure your Apple Watch Ultra is updated to watchOS 9.1 or later.

In the Watch app on your iPhone, go to General -> Software Update. If you're not already up to date, wait for the update to appear, then tap Download and Install. Make sure your Apple Watch has at least 50% charge and is connected to its charger while the update process completes.

Get 60-Hour Battery Life on Apple Watch Ultra

To achieve the extended battery life, Ultra models must first have workout settings enabled for fewer heart rate and GPS readings. Here's how to enable them. (Note that these settings are also available on Apple Watch Series 8 and second-generation Apple Watch SE, but Apple has not stated that they will extend battery life on these models beyond the 36 hours offered by the system-wide Low Power Mode.)

1. Launch the Settings app on your Apple Watch Ultra.
2. Scroll to the bottom and tap Workout.
3. Toggle on the switch next to Low Power Mode.
4. Below "During Low Power Mode," toggle on the switch next to Fewer GPS and Heart Rate Readings.

Apple says that with the above settings enabled, Low Power Mode preserves battery life only during walking, running, and hiking workouts, by reducing the frequency of GPS and heart rate readings (heart rate readings are reduced to once per minute, while GPS readings are reduced to once every two minutes) and turning off alerts, splits, and segments. In other words, this means that to get the full 60 hours of battery life, you'll need to enable Low Power Mode outside of workouts as well.

• How to Enable Low Power Mode on Apple Watch

When set up in this manner, Ultra users can expect to get "up to" 60 hours of battery life from their smartwatch. This number is calculated based on 15 hours of workout, over 600 time checks, 35 minutes of app use, 3 minutes of talk, and 15 hours of sleep tracking, over the course of 60 hours, according to Apple.

Apple plans to mark several 2013 and 2014 iMac models as obsolete at the end of this month, the company said in a memo obtained by MacRumors.

In the memo, Apple said the 21.5-inch and 27-inch ‌iMac‌ from Late 2013, the Mid 2014 21.5-inch ‌iMac‌, and the Retina 5K 27-inch ‌iMac‌ from late 2014 will be marked as obsolete on November 30, 2022. When marked as an obsolete product, the iMacs will no longer be eligible for any repairs and services. The list of vintage and obsolete products can be found on Apple's website.

Elon Musk has asked Twitter engineers to begin work on an updated version of Vine that could launch before the end of the year, reports Axios. Musk yesterday tweeted a poll asking if he should "bring back Vine," and 69.5 percent of four million respondents said yes.

Twitter acquired video app Vine back in 2012, which was pre-TikTok and back when Vine was popular. The app slowly stopped being used, and Twitter ended up shutting it down in 2016. Vine was designed to let users capture and share six-second looping video clips.

A rebooted version of Vine could compete with popular video app TikTok. Twitter engineers have been told to examine the Vine code base, which has not been changed since it was shut down. One source told Axios that it "needs a lot of work."

Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter on Friday, instating himself as CEO and firing multiple top executives including prior CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and policy lead Vijaya Gadde, among others. Musk also got rid of the board of directors, and is now Twitter's sole director.

There have been multiple rumors about Musk's plans for Twitter since the takeover, and it has been suggested that he is going to make significant cuts to Twitter's workforce. This morning, rumors indicated that Musk plans to charge $20 per month for a verified account, which has yet to be confirmed.

Apple has yet to finalize the display size for its planned 2024 iPhone SE 4, display analyst Ross Young said in a tweet today that was shared with Super Followers. Apple is mulling a number of decisions related to the size of the display and the display material.

The company is said to be considering 6.1-inch OLED displays from two suppliers, as well as 5.7 to 6.1-inch LCDs from two suppliers. Given this information, it is as of yet unclear whether Apple will go with a 5.7-inch display or a 6.1-inch display, and whether that display will use OLED technology or LCD technology.

An OLED display would be more expensive, with the current ‌iPhone SE‌ model using an LCD display with thick bezels and a Touch ID Home button. Apple's flagship iPhone lineup is equipped with OLED panels, with all models using OLED since the ‌iPhone‌ 12.

It is possible that OLED panels have come down in price enough for Apple to use them for the low-cost ‌iPhone SE‌, especially as it is not set to launch for another two years.

Both the 5.7 and 6.1-inch display sizes have been rumored in the past, including from Young himself. That Apple has not yet made a final decision explains why we continue to hear about two different panel sizes.

Regardless of whether Apple goes with a 5.7-inch display or a 6.1-inch display, Young believes the ‌iPhone SE‌ 4 will feature an all-display design with a notch, but it is not yet known if Apple will introduce Face ID or stick with ‌Touch ID‌, and rumors vary on this point.

Apple today added refurbished M2 MacBook Air models to its online store, offering the machines at a discounted price for the first time. The ‌M2‌ MacBook Airs first launched in July, and refurbished models have not previously been available.

There are several variants available with different configurations and colors, but the base model ‌MacBook Air‌ with ‌M2‌ chip, 8-core GPU, 8-core GPU, 8GB RAM, and 256GB SSD is available for $1,079, a $120 discount off of the original $1,199 price.

The ‌M2‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ is the first machine to feature the upgraded ‌M2‌ chip, along with the 13-inch MacBook Pro. It also offers a full redesign, with Apple doing away with the tapered chassis the ‌MacBook Air‌ used for years and instead introducing a more MacBook Pro-like look. It features slimmer bezels and a lighter weight compared to prior ‌MacBook Air‌ models, plus it adopts MagSafe and more USB-C ports.

Supplies of the refurbished ‌M2‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ models will shift over time as Apple adds new machines, so if you're wanting a specific configuration or color, you may need to check back often.

Refurbished products from Apple are almost identical to new products, and are subject to a refurbishment process that includes full functionality testing. Refurbished products are eligible for AppleCare+ and have the same 14-day return period as new Apple devices.

Apple last week announced pricing increases for Apple Music, Apple TV+, and the Apple One bundles that include those services, and customers are now receiving emails making them aware of the changes.

In the United States, ‌Apple Music‌ is $1 more expensive for individual users and $2 more expensive for families, while ‌Apple TV‌+ is $2 more expensive. ‌Apple One‌ plans that include these services are increasing in price accordingly as well. Current ‌Apple Music‌, ‌Apple TV‌+, and ‌Apple One‌ subscribers are receiving emails from Apple about the price increase, with a 30 day heads up. Emails have been going out since last week, but a number of ‌Apple One‌ subscribers will be receiving notices this week as it is the two year anniversary of the service's launch.

Those who do not want to pay the increased prices should have plenty of time to cancel their subscriptions before the cost changes are enacted, with the emails include a link to subscription management options.

Apple Music

• Individual plan - $10.99/month, a $1 increase
• Family plan - $16.99/month, a $2 increase
• Annual plan for individuals - $109/year, a $10 increase

Apple TV+

• Monthly plan - $6.99/month, a $2 increase
• Annual plan - $69/year, a $20 increase

Apple One

• Individual plan - $16.95/month, a $2 increase
• Family plan - $22.95/month, a $3 increase
• Premium plan - $32.95/month, a $3 increase

The pricing increases listed above pertain to the United States, but the cost of ‌Apple Music‌, ‌Apple TV‌+, and ‌Apple One‌ is also going up in other countries where the services are available.

Apple raised the price of ‌Apple Music‌ due to increased licensing costs that will provide more money to artists and songwriters, while ‌Apple TV‌+ is more expensive because it now offers more content than it did when the service launched.

Apple could be considering a return of the iconic backlit Apple logo on future MacBook models, if a newly published patent is anything to go by.

Once a common sight in coffee shops everywhere, the glowing emblem of an Apple logo featured on the lids of many Mac laptops launched in the early 2000s, but its demise in 2015 could turn out to be relatively short-lived.

Filed by Apple in May 2022 and published last week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a new patent summarizes various implementations of "Electronic Devices With Backlit Partial Mirror Structures," but the illustrated example leaves readers in little doubt about the specific use case Apple has in mind.

"An electronic device such as a laptop computer or other device may have a housing. Components such as a display and keyboard may be mounted in the housing. The rear of the housing may be provided with a logo. The logo or other structures in the device may be provided with a backlit partially reflective mirror. The mirror may provide the logo or other structures with a shiny appearance while blocking interior components from view. At the same time, the partial transparency of the mirror allows backlight illumination from within the device to pass through the mirror."

"One or more thin-film layers may be configured to provide the partially reflective mirror with desired visible light reflection spectrum, a desired visible light transmission spectrum, and a desired visible light absorption spectrum. The reflectivity of the mirror may be configured so that the mirror serves as a one-way mirror for the logo or other structure. The mirror may have a neutral color such as light gray or may have a non-neutral color such as gold."

Patently Apple, which first highlighted the document, notes that three of the engineers listed on the patent only joined Apple in 2018, long after the backlit logo was dropped from Mac laptops, indicating that a different methodology is being described.

The first Mac laptop with a lit-up Apple logo was the third-generation PowerBook G3 launched in 1999, and the glowing symbol proved a mainstay through consecutive Apple notebooks for the next 16 years. The only change in that period was that the logo got flipped upright, so that it no longer appeared upside down to onlookers when someone was sat in public with the lid open.

In 2015, Apple began nixing the illuminated insignia from its laptops, starting with the ultra-thin 12-inch MacBook, which had a polished metal logo instead, like those seen on iPads. In 2016, a new generation of MacBook Pro models continued the unlit trend, and Apple hasn't launched a Mac laptop with a glowing logo since.