Following yesterday's launch of orders for the two new 35-watt dual USB-C power adapters introduced at WWDC, Apple has posted a new support document outlining how power is split when devices are connected to both ports.
Under most scenarios, the 35 total watts will be split evenly between the two connected devices, with the exception being when one of the devices has relatively low power requirements, such as an Apple Watch or AirPods case.
If you connect a Mac notebook and an iPhone or iPad, each device receives up to 17.5W.
If you connect an iPhone and an iPad, each device receives up to 17.5W.
If you connect a Mac notebook or iPhone and an Apple Watch or AirPods, the Mac notebook or iPhone receives up to 27.5W and the Apple Watch or AirPods receive up to 7.5W.
The standard version of the dual USB-C adapter is available worldwide and has a removable plug head for compatibility with international plug heads and extension cables. The compact version is only available in the U.S., Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, and a few other countries that use the Type A plug style. Both versions are priced at $59 in the United States, and the new adapters will ship with higher configurations of the new MacBook Air launching next month.
Apple this morning began accepting orders for the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 chip, and as with many other Macs, this new machine is facing some shipping delays.
Select custom configurations of the M2 MacBook Pro with upgraded unified memory are backordered, and will not be available for delivery until August. All 13-inch MacBook Pro models in the United States with the 24GB unified memory upgrade selected are listing delivery dates from August 3 to August 10.
Stock MacBook Pro models are available for delivery on launch day, which is Friday, June 24, but other memory and SSD upgrades push delivery back until at least July.
It is no surprise to see shipping delays for the 13-inch MacBook Pro because Apple has been dealing with Mac supply shortages for most of the year. 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, even stock configurations, are not arriving to customers until mid-August in some cases.
Apple has said that these supply issues can be attributed to ongoing component shortages and manufacturing issues caused by the global pandemic.
During the April earnings call, Apple CFO Luca Maestri said that Apple was expecting ongoing supply issues to impact product sales into the third fiscal quarter of 2022. Apple had issues meeting demand in the second quarter, and was expecting these problems to worsen later in the year.
The supply constraints are expected to cost Apple $4 to $8 billion, and will impact many of Apple's product categories.
Apple has not yet announced a launch date for the M2 MacBook Air, but given the Mac delays we've seen for the entirety of 2022, supply shortages can be expected.
Streaming service Paramount+ kicked off a new summer special in June, offering a free first month of the service for any new subscribers. Once your extended free trial ends, the service is available from $4.99/month for the ad-supported tier, but you can choose to cancel it before you're charged.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Paramount+. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Paramount+ typically has a week-long free trial, so this should give new subscribers a longer chance to catch up on the service's streaming content before they have to decide whether to keep paying for it or not. This offer will expire on Monday, June 20, and it can also be redeemed through the Paramount+ iOS app.
To get the offer, just click the "Try It Free" button on the Paramount+ website and select from the "Essential" (limited ads) or "Premium" (no ads except live TV and a few shows). Once you create your account and sign up, your offer of one month free will automatically be applied to your account.
Last year, Paramount+ offered a similar deal through Apple TV Channels, but readers should note that the 2022 offer is not through the Apple TV app's Channels feature and can only be found on the Paramount+ website or in its mobile app.
Be sure to visit our full Deals Roundup to shop for even more Apple-related products and accessories.
With iPadOS 16, Apple introduced Stage Manager, a feature that's designed to improve multitasking through a more Mac-like multi-window experience. Apple also added full external display support, so for our latest YouTube video, we thought we'd test out both of these features to show MacRumors readers what the iPad experience is like in iPadOS 16.
Both Stage Manager and external display support are limited to the iPad Pro and iPad Air models that are equipped with M1 chips, which includes only Apple's most recent devices. Apple's decision to limit Stage Manager to M1 iPads has been highly controversial because many people have older iPads and are unable to use some of the best multitasking updates we've seen in years, but Apple has maintained that it was not possible to deliver an acceptable multitasking experience on iPads that don't have the power of the M1 chip.
If you're lucky enough to have an M1 iPad Pro or M1 iPad Air, Stage Manager is a useful multitasking update. You can activate it through Control Center, and once on, you'll see a tiled view of your open apps off to the left side of the app with the main app available center stage.
You can resize the windows and move them freely around on the iPad, which is a new experience. Previously, Split View and Slide Over were the only available multitasking options, and were limited to two apps or app windows at a time.
Stage Manager works with the aforementioned external display support, and that's where the feature is best shown off, as it allows for a much more Mac like experience. With an iPad alone, Stage Manager is capable of handling four apps at once, but with an external display, you can use up to eight.
iPadOS 16 allows an iPad to take full advantage of the external display rather than mirroring the iPad, and it's like using a display with a Mac. You can move windows from the iPad over to the display, and adjust the arrangement between the two as you would in macOS.
Stage Manager isn't perfect as we're still early in the beta testing process, so some apps aren't working well on the external display, but there's plenty of time for Apple to make refinements and updates. Stage Manager is likely going to make for a much more pleasant working experience for those who like to use an iPad in lieu of a desktop computer, but it is a shame that it is limited to the newest iPads.
Have you tried Stage Manager? Let us know what you think of it in the comments below.
The Apple TV 4K is the centerpiece of this week's deals, with a rock bottom price of $129.99 hitting the 32GB model on Amazon. This sale is still in stock and available today, along with many others that we've collected below.
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.
The week kicked off with a steep discount on the Apple TV 4K, with the 32GB model dropping to just $129.99, down from $179.00; the 64GB model dropped to $149.99, down from $199.00. Both of these sales represent the best prices we've ever seen on the Apple TV 4K.
Alongside all-time low prices on the Apple TV 4K, we saw the Apple Pencil 2 return to its record low of $99.00 on Amazon this week, down from $129.00. This is a rare discount on the Apple Pencil 2, as we haven't seen many markdowns arrive for the accessory so far in 2022.
AirPods Max hit an all-time low Amazon price this week in select colors, available at $429.00, down from $549.00. This price is available in Silver, Blue, and Space Gray, while Pink is slightly higher at $430.00.
Satechi kicked off a Father's Day sale this week, which will continue to run through this Sunday, June 19. During the event, you can get 20 percent off sitewide on Satechi's website, which includes solid savings on USB-C chargers, wireless chargers, and many more Apple-compatible accessories.
Keep up with all of this week's best discounts on Apple products and related accessories in our dedicated Apple Deals roundup.
Apple's M2MacBook Pro comes over a year and a half after its M1-based predecessor. The new device features the exact same design, but there are several important, under-the-hood differences between the two machines that could make it an upgrade worth considering for some users, even though it may not be worthwhile for many customers.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro is often chosen by those who require active cooling for better sustained performance, the best compact MacBook battery life, or simply like the Touch Bar, with the device offering more than the MacBook Air but a price well below the high-end MacBook Pro models. Apple outlines at least six key differences between the now-discontinued M1 MacBook Pro and the new M2 MacBook Pro:
M1 MacBook Pro
M1 chip with 8-core GPU
8GB and 16GB unified memory configurations
68.25GB/s memory bandwidth
3.5mm headphone jack
61W USB‑C Power Adapter
M2 MacBook Pro
M2 chip with 10-core GPU and dedicated media engine
8GB, 16GB, and 24GB unified memory configurations
100GB/s memory bandwidth
3.5mm headphone jack with support for high-impedance headphones
67W USB‑C Power Adapter
Made with more recycled materials
M1 vs. M2
The main difference between the current and previous-generation 13-inch MacBook Pros is their Apple silicon chip. The M1 chip, introduced in November 2020, is based on Apple's A14 Bionic chip. On the other hand, the M2 is seemingly based on the A15 Bionic chip. While both chips feature an eight-core CPU with four performance cores and four efficiency cores, the M2's cores offer moderate performance and efficiency improvements. The M2 also adds two additional GPU cores.
According to Apple, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is nearly 40 percent faster than the previous generation when working with RAW images in apps like Affinity Photo or playing graphics-intense games like "Baldur's Gate 3."
Like the M1 Pro, the M2 features a media engine for hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW video encode and decode. The M1 chip does not contain a dedicated media engine.
Apple says that this dramatically speeds up video workflows on the latest MacBook Pro, allowing users to play back up to 11 streams of 4K and up to two streams of 8K ProRes video. Users can convert their video projects to ProRes nearly three times faster than before.
Unified Memory
Both the M1 and M2 are configurable with 8GB or 16GB of unified memory, but the M2 offers an additional 24GB top-tier memory option. Multitasking and memory-hungry workflows, such as working with large assets, benefit from the M2 chip as a result. In addition, the M2 has a 100GB/s memory bandwidth, compared to 68.25GB/s with the M1, meaning that the latest MacBook Pro can access more memory faster.
Support for High-Impedance Headphones
The 13-inch MacBook Pro continues to offer better speakers and microphones than the MacBook Air, featuring high dynamic range and "studio-quality." The M2 MacBook Pro ups the device's audio credentials further with support for high-impedance headphones like the high-end 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, which could be a meaningful upgrade for some audio professionals.
Power Adapter
The M2 MacBook Pro comes with a 67W power adapter for slightly faster charging compared to the previous model's 61W power adapter.
Environmental Improvements
The previous 13-inch MacBook Pro was free of numerous harmful substances, met Apple's energy efficiency standards, and used wood fiber in the packaging from recycled sources or responsibly managed forests, but the M2 MacBook Pro further reduces the device's environmental impact by using 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in the enclosure magnets and 100 percent recycled tin in the solder of the main logic board.
Final Thoughts
The M2 MacBook Pro offers modest upgrades over the previous-generation model, with most aspects of the device remaining the same. Specific video and audio workflows stand to benefit from the 13-inch MacBook Pro's improvements, as will anyone who needs more than 16GB of memory or broader memory bandwidth, but everyday users are unlikely to notice substantial differences.
Given that it has only been 18 months since Apple launched the M1 MacBook Pro and the M1 chip continues to be offered in the iPad Air, iPad Pro, Mac mini, and iMac, the M2 MacBook Pro will likely not be worth it coming directly from the previous model and future-proofing is unlikely to be an important factor at this stage. Most 13-inch MacBook Pro customers may wish to wait longer in between upgrades for more meaningful improvements.
The M2 MacBook Pro is better suited to buyers who are upgrading from an older machine, rather than 2020's M1 model. Spearheaded by the M2 chip, the device's series of minor improvements offer a good overall package for these buyers, ensuring that they get a slightly more modern and capable machine.
Today we're tracking a collection of discounts across multiple Apple-related accessories on Amazon, including dual USB-C charger alternatives from Anker.
Anker's Dual USB-C Chargers
Anker has a few alternatives to Apple's new 35W power adapters with dual USB-C ports, and both undercut Apple's prices by half. Prices start at $27.99 for the 40W 2-Port USB-C PowerPort Charger in White, and there's a Black color at a slightly higher price of $29.99.
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.
Secondly is the 40W 2-Port USB-C Compact Charger for $30.59, down from $35.99. You can get this 15 percent off discount by clicking the coupon below the price on the Amazon page for the accessory, and it'll be applied at checkout.
The first Anker charger includes a foldable plug and measures about 2.5 inches by 2.5 inches, while the second option is much smaller at about 1.3 inches long, but it doesn't have a foldable plug. They're both around half the price of Apple's $59 price tag on its dual USB-C plugs.
AirTag
Amazon is discounting Apple's AirTag lineup today, offering the AirTag 4-Pack for $87.99 on Amazon, down from $99.00. This is about $2 lower than the previous sale we tracked, and overall it's a second-best price.
You can also get the AirTag 1-Pack for $26.99, down from $29.00. Both of the AirTag packs are sold directly by Amazon, and there's an estimated delivery date of June 21-22 for each accessory.
iPad Pro Magic Keyboards
Lastly, there are a few solid discounts on the iPad Pro Magic Keyboard lineup. Prices start at $249.00 for the 11-inch iPad Pro Magic Keyboard, down from $299.00 and available in White and Black.
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro Magic Keyboard is priced at $299.00, down from $349.00, and also available in both White and Black. These accessories are in stock today and sold directly by Amazon, with a delivery estimate of June 21-22.
Both of these Magic Keyboard deals represent second-best prices on each accessory, and they're the first time we've seen notable markdowns in a few months. Head to our full Deals Roundup to get caught up with all of the latest deals and discounts that we've been tracking over the past week.
Apple at WWDC 2022 introduced new 35W power adapters with dual USB-C ports, and they are now available to order, as spotted by 9to5Mac. The adapters come in standard or compact sizes, with both priced at $59 in the United States.
The compact version of the adapter will already be included in the box with the new MacBook Air when configured with an M2 chip with a 10-core GPU and 512GB of storage or better, but it is now available to purchase separately too via Apple.com and the Apple Store app. The new MacBook Air will be available next month, according to Apple.
Both adapters feature foldable prongs and can be used to charge multiple devices simultaneously. Apple recommends using the adapters with the new MacBook Air, but they are also compatible with the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, and more.
Availability of the compact adapter is limited to the United States, Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand.
Apple has not yet started accepting orders for the USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable in Starlight, Midnight, or Space Gray.
Following a few discounts on the 16-inch MacBook Pro earlier this week, Amazon today has introduced markdowns on the smaller 14-inch models of the 2021 MacBook Pro. Just like the 16-inch computers, this marks the first time we've seen stock reappear for the newest MacBook Pros in a few weeks.
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.
Sales start with the 8-Core M1 Pro, 512GB 14-inch MacBook Pro for $1,799.00, down from $1,999.00. This one is on sale in Silver and Space Gray, with estimated delivery dates arriving in late June. This is a second-best price, but the first in-stock sale we've tracked on the 14-inch MacBook Pro in just over a month.
Moving to the 10-Core M1 Pro, 1TB 14-inch MacBook Pro, this one is on sale for $2,299.00 only in Space Gray. Delivery estimates provide a June 21-22 arrival date for most places in the United States, and this is another second-best price.
The new 13-inch MacBook Pro with the M2 chip is now available to order worldwide via Apple.com and the Apple Store app. The first deliveries to customers and in-store availability will begin Friday, June 24, according to Apple.
Some built-to-order configurations with upgraded storage and memory already have shipping estimates pushing into early August in the United States.
The new 13-inch MacBook Pro features the same design as the previous model, including the Touch Bar and two Thunderbolt 3 ports. The only notable change is the M2 chip with an 8-core CPU and a 10-core GPU. Apple said the M2 chip has up to an 18% faster CPU, 35% faster GPU, and 40% faster Neural Engine compared to the M1 chip.
With the M2 chip, the 13-inch MacBook Pro can be configured with up to 24GB of unified memory, whereas the M1 chip maxes out at 16GB of memory. The notebook also supports up to 2TB of SSD storage. In line with the previous model, pricing starts at $1,299 in the United States, with silver and space gray color options available to choose from.
Apple is also releasing a redesigned MacBook Air with the M2 chip, but it is not available to order until next month. One notable difference between the notebooks is that the MacBook Air features a fanless design, while the MacBook Pro has an active cooling system to ensure sustained performance for users with more demanding workflows.
Update: In addition to standard 13-inch MacBook Pro configurations, Apple is now accepting orders for upgraded built-to-order configurations.
Apple chip supplier TSMC will begin production of advanced 2nm chips by 2025, in what is likely to contribute to a key future iteration of Apple silicon, Nikkei Asia reports.
TSMC made the announcement at an industry event on Thursday, explaining that its 2nm technology will be based on "nanosheet transistor architecture." Nanosheet architecture is a totally different chip technology from the FinFET infrastructure used for TSMC's current 5nm chips, delivering significant performance and efficiency improvements. Apple's latest chips, such as the M2 and A15 Bionic, are produced with TSMC's 5nm fabrication process.
The 2025 timeframe is the first official schedule for the company's 2nm chip production and is highly likely to be used for future Apple silicon chips. The 2nm fabrication process, also known simply as "N2," is expected to offer a 10 to 15 percent speed improvement at the same power or a 25 to 30 percent power reduction at the same speed compared to chips made with the supplier's 3nm technology.
Apple at the Worldwide Developers Conference introduced a new macOS Ventura feature called Continuity Camera, which is designed to allow you to use an iPhone XR or later as the webcam for your Mac.
Continuity Camera is meant to be used with a mount that attaches the iPhone to the Mac's display in the right spot for all of the features to work correctly. Apple is planning to partner with companies like Belkin to create accessories for Continuity Camera, but these won't be coming out until closer to the fall, so at the time being, there's no official mounting solution.
If you want to try Continuity Camera as it's meant to be used and you have a 3D printer, Jonathan Wight has created some mount patterns for the MacBook Pro and the iMac Pro. You can print out one of the mounts and attach it to the Mac to hold the iPhone in place.
Continuity Camera works in wired or wireless mode with the Mac, and it is designed to start up automatically when you activate an app that uses the webcam on the Mac. It uses the rear camera of the iPhone for the best possible picture quality, and there are several useful features.
Portrait Mode blurs the background behind you, while Center Stage uses the Ultra Wide camera to keep you centered in the frame even as you move around the room. Studio Light dims the background and illuminates the face to replace external lighting, making it ideal for backlit scenes, and Desk View uses the Ultra Wide camera to show what's on your desk during a video call.
Continuity Camera is available to developers at the current time as part of macOS Ventura, with Apple planning to make a public beta available in July. We'll likely see third-party stand options popping up on sites like Amazon any day now, but for now, the 3D printed options are great for those who have access to a 3D printer.
Apple today released a new build of macOS Monterey 12.4 that's designed for the upcoming M2 Macs, the first of which is set to be available for purchase tomorrow. The new software has a build number of 21F2092, and it is limited to the new machines so existing Mac users will not see an update.
The macOS Monterey 12.4 update can be downloaded on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Preferences. No one has an M2 Mac as of yet, but the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 chip will be able to be ordered tomorrow, and it will be delivered to customers starting on Friday, June 24.
Apple's original macOS Monterey 12.4 release added support for new Studio Display 15.5 firmware, updated the Podcasts app, and moved Universal Control out of beta. There is no word on what's included in the supplemental update available for M2 Macs.
While the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 chip is debuting tomorrow, Apple has not yet announced a launch date for the M2 MacBook Air. It is expected to be introduced sometime in July, and new MacBook Air owners may have a day one update to install.
The new 13-inch MacBook Pro with the M2 chip appears to be faster than a base model Mac Pro in benchmarks, despite costing nearly $5,000 less.
In an apparent Geekbench 5 result that surfaced on Wednesday, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro achieved a multi-core score of 8,928, while the standard Mac Pro configuration with an 8‑core Intel Xeon W processor has an average multi-core score of 8,027 on Geekbench 5. These scores suggest the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, which starts at $1,299, has up to 11% faster multi-core performance than the base model Mac Pro for $5,999.
Higher-end Mac Pro configurations are still able to outperform the M2 chip, such as the 12-core model, but at the cost of $6,999 and up.
Given the Mac Pro has other benefits like expandability, configurable GPU options, larger built-in SSD storage capacity options, and much larger RAM options, this certainly isn't an apples-to-apples comparison, but the benchmarks are nevertheless a testament to the impressive performance of Apple silicon chips in more affordable Macs.
14-Inch and 16-Inch MacBook Pro with M1 Max: 12,162 to 12,219
Mac Pro with 12-core Intel Xeon W: 11,919
13-Inch MacBook Pro with M2: 8,928 (based on a single result)
Mac Pro with 8-core Intel Xeon W: 8,027
13-Inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air with M1: 7,395 to 7,420
The Mac Pro and the high-end Mac mini are the only Intel-based Macs remaining in Apple's lineup. During its March event, Apple teased that a new Mac Pro powered by Apple silicon is coming, with an announcement widely expected by the end of this year.
The new 13-inch MacBook Pro will be available to order worldwide starting this Friday, with deliveries to customers and in-store availability beginning June 24. Apple is also releasing a redesigned MacBook Air with the M2 chip in July that should likewise outperform the base model Mac Pro for an even lower starting price of $1,199.
It appears "increasingly likely" that Apple will launch a new 13-inch MacBook with an OLED display in 2024, according to display industry analyst Ross Young. In a tweet shared with his Super Followers today, Young said the notebook is expected to be a new MacBook Air, but he said there is a possibility it will have other branding.
Young, who has accurately revealed a range of display-related information for the iPhone 13 Pro, iPad mini, MacBook Pro, and other devices, also expects Apple to release new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models with OLED displays in 2024.
In another tweet shared with his Super Followers, Young said the OLED displays in all three new devices will adopt a two-stack tandem structure, in which there are two red, green, and blue emission layers, allowing for increased brightness and lower power consumption. OLED displays also do not require backlighting for further power efficiency.
Young said all of the devices will adopt LTPO display technology for a variable refresh rate between 1Hz and 120Hz, a feature that Apple calls ProMotion. All iPad Pro models released since 2017 already feature ProMotion, but the refresh rate can only drop as low as 24Hz, while ProMotion would be all new to the MacBook Air.
Apple is currently focused on transitioning its Mac and iPad lines to LCD displays with mini-LED backlighting, and OLED displays would be the next step. Unlike mini-LED displays, OLED panels use self-emitting pixels and do not require backlighting, which could improve contrast ratio and further contribute to longer battery life.
Amazon today has Apple's 64GB Wi-Fi iPad Air (2022) for $559.00 in select colors, down from $599.00. This deal has been applied automatically and does not require a coupon code of any kind.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
The 64GB Wi-Fi iPad Air is available in Pink and Purple at this price; the Blue color is matching this price but it's in refurbished condition. Compared to previous sales, the $559.00 price tag is a second-best price on the 2022 iPad Air, and each model is in stock and ready to ship from Amazon today.
Apple updated the iPad Air lineup this past March, with the M1 chip, new color options, Touch ID, and a 10.9-inch edge-to-edge display. Our full Deals Roundup has more information on the latest Apple-related sales and bargains.
Amid the controversy surrounding Stage Manager and its hardware requirements, an investigation has revealed that iPadOS 16 in fact includes an internal mode that allows Apple to test the multitasking feature on iPads that don't have an M1 chip.
Code found by 9to5Mac in the beta software reportedly references an internal setting that enables "Chamois" (the Stage Manager codename) for "Legacy Devices," or in other words, iPad models lacking the M1 processor that Apple deems is necessary to deliver an "instantaneously responsive" experience.
The existence of the internal mode tallies with comments made by Apple's head of software engineering Craig Federighi in a recent interview with Forbes, in which he said that internal testing had revealed non-M1 iPads couldn't deliver the Stage Manager experience that Apple was aiming for.
"We began some of our prototyping involving those systems and it became apparent early on that we couldn't deliver the experience that that we were designing toward with them," he said. "Certainly, we would love to bring any new experience to every device we can, but we also don't want to hold back the definition of a new experience and not create the best foundation for the future in that experience. And we really could only do that by building on the M1."
The existence of the internal mode for testing Stage Manager on older iPads is no guarantee that the feature works on these devices as Apple intended, but it is likely to add fuel to the debate around whether Apple is being completely upfront about the hardware limitations of iPads that lack the M1 chip.
In a statement last week, shared by Rene Ritchie, Apple asserted that Stage Manager "requires large internal memory, incredibly fast storage, and flexible external display I/O, all of which are delivered by iPads with the M1 chip."
Stage Manager allows users to resize iPad apps into overlapping windows for an improved multitasking experience. It also supports an external display with up to 6K resolution, allowing users to work with up to four apps on the iPad and up to four apps on the external display simultaneously.
Some users have questioned why Apple does not allow Stage Manager to work on older devices by capping the external display resolution or limiting the number of apps that can be used at the same time. Others have pointed out that Stage Manager is also included in macOS Ventura, which works on Intel Macs that were released as early as 2017.
A UK consumer champion has launched a £750 million ($907 million) legal claim against Apple over the 2017 iPhone throttling controversy that saw a software update effectively slow down older devices (via The Guardian).
Market researcher Justin Gutmann has filed the claim with the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal seeking the damages for up to 25 million UK owners of a range of older iPhone models affected by the update.
The claim relates to Apple's introduction of power management features for older iPhones to prevent unexpected shutdowns during times of peak power draw on devices with degraded batteries. These power management features throttle the processor on older iPhones with less than optimal batteries, resulting in slower performance.
Gutmann claims that Apple introduced the features to disguise the fact that iPhone batteries were unable to cope with new iOS processing demands and that rather than recall products or replace batteries, Apple instead pushed users to download the software updates.
"Instead of doing the honorable and legal thing by their customers and offering a free replacement, repair service or compensation, Apple instead misled people by concealing a tool in software updates that slowed their devices by up to 58%," Mr Gutmann said.
"I'm launching this case so that millions of iPhone users across the UK will receive redress for the harm suffered by Apple's actions.
"If this case is successful, I hope dominant companies will re-evaluate their business models and refrain from this kind of conduct," he added.
Though introduced early in 2017, the power management features were not widely publicized until late 2017, leading many customers to feel deceived by Apple.
Apple apologized the same year for not better explaining how battery health could impact performance. It has since implemented a policy offering low-price no-questions-asked battery replacements for out-of-warranty devices.
In 2020, the company also agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle a long-running class action lawsuit in the United States that accused the company of "secretly throttling" older iPhone models. Apple has faced similar lawsuits in Belgium, Chile, Spain, Italy, and Portugal.
Gutmann's claim relates to the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, SE, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X models. It seeks compensation for each model owned and is an opt-out claim, meaning customers will not need to actively join the case to seek damages.
Commenting on the claim, Apple told The Guardian: "We have never, and would never, do anything to … degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades.
"Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love, and making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that."
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Paramount+. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
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.
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.
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.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
