Safari 15 has faced a barrage of complaints about its controversial new design, and while Apple has listened to user feedback and reversed some changes or made them optional, many users still struggle to discern an active tab from a background tab on the Mac browser because of the inverted shading.
Unfortunately for users who do not like the new design, Apple has not made any changes to the shading of tabs in either the Safari 15.1 beta or the latest version of the experimental Safari Technology Preview browser.
Fortunately however, developer Zhenyi Tan was inspired by John Gruber's Daring Fireballarticle about the issue and has since come up with a simple Safari extension called ActiveTab that provides a solution.
ActiveTab simply makes it easier to spot the active tab in Safari on Mac by drawing a line underneath it. There are eight colors to choose from, and the line below the tab can be customized to be between 1 and 7 pixels wide.
As Zhenyi notes, the extension works best with the "Separate" tab layout selected and "Show color in tab bar" disabled in the Tab section of Safari's Preferences. Zhenyi also cautions that ActiveTab will not work reliably if you have so many tabs in a window that the tab bar becomes scrollable.
ActiveTab is available for $1.99 on the Mac App Store, with no in-app purchases, no ads, and no tracking.
Back on launch day for the iPhone 13 last month, a number of Apple Card users had difficulties placing orders for their devices, with many of those users ultimately resorting to different forms of payment in order to ensure their orders went through in a timely fashion.
As shared by a number of MacRumors readers, Apple today sent out emails to affected customers, letting them know that they will be credited with the 3% Daily Cash they would have earned on their iPhone 13 purchases even though they were unable to complete their purchases with their Apple Cards.
You successfully completed your iPhone pre-order with a payment method other than Apple Card. We understand that your initial purchase attempt with Apple Card was declined and you didn’t earn 3% Daily Cash.
We apologize for the inconvenience you experienced and want to make it up to you. We are providing you a credit for the Daily Cash on the initial payment of your iPhone 13. You’ll see this appear as a Balance Adjustment in the Wallet app. This will also appear on your October monthly statement.
If you would like to continue earning Daily Cash back on future iPhone payments with your Apple Card, please visit citizensoneloan.com to update your payment method.
If you have any questions, contact an Apple Card Specialist.
The 3% Daily Cash credits are already going through, with users able to check the Wallet app to confirm their credit has been received.
With the update, AirPods Pro and AirPods Max are able to take advantage of the Find My network, allowing them to be located through connections with the Apple devices owned by other people.
Prior to now, AirPods Pro and AirPods Max were listed in the Find My app, but if they were out of Bluetooth range, they would only display last known location. Through the update, the Find My network will provide an approximate location for the AirPods to help you get within Bluetooth range to track down your headphones using the Play a Sound feature.
Apple device users are largely underwhelmed by the iPhone 13 lineup and the Apple Watch Series 7, according to the findings of a new survey by SellCell.
The survey asked 5,000 iPhone users aged 18 or over in the United States between September 23 and 30 what they thought of the recently announced iPhone 13 models and Apple Watch Series 7.
64 percent of users said that the iPhone 13 lineup is "not very" or "not at all" exciting. 21.5 percent felt that the iPhone 13 models are "somewhat" exciting, and only 14.4 percent said that they are "extremely" or "very exciting."
A minority of respondents, 23.3 percent, intend to upgrade to an iPhone 13 model, which is a 20.5 percent drop from a pre-launch survey conducted two months ago that put purchase intent for the iPhone 13 as high as 43.7 percent. This indicates a significant decline in interest around the iPhone 13 after it was announced.
Among the 23.3 percent that intend to upgrade to an iPhone 13 model, the 6.1-inch iPhone 13 Pro is overwhelmingly the most popular pick with 42.5 percent of responses. The 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro Max was the next most popular with 26.3 percent, followed by the standard 6.1-inch iPhone 13 with 22 percent.
The 5.4-inch iPhone 13 mini continues the trend of the iPhone 12 mini, with just 9.2 percent of respondents intending to buy the smallest iPhone 13. Apple's smallest iPhones have struggled to gain traction with a significant proportion of consumers over the past year, leading to the expectation that Apple will discontinue the 5.4-inch model size in 2022 in favor of a new, larger 6.7-inch "iPhone 14 Max" model.
Of the 23.3 percent that plan to upgrade, the main reason to do so was the ProMotion display and longer battery life for 34.1 percent and 25.3 percent of respondents, respectively. 26.2 percent said that there was no clear reason to buy an iPhone 13 model but they were simply due an upgrade or were locked into a yearly upgrade or trade-in program.
The iPhone 13's camera improvements, such as larger sensors and Cinematic mode, have been among the features most heavily promoted by Apple this year, but just 5.4 percent of respondents planning to upgrade cited the camera improvements as the main reason to upgrade.
Likewise, the new 1TB storage option was only credited by 3.2 percent of users as a reason to upgrade. The much-decried notch, which finally saw a 20 percent reduction in size on the iPhone 13 models, was commended by only 1.5 percent of respondents as a main reason to upgrade.
Of the 76.8 percent of existing iPhone users who are not interested in buying an iPhone 13 model, 29.3 percent said that the lack of a Touch ID fingerprint scanner was the main factor for holding off. 19.5 percent said that there were no major features to warrant an upgrade, but other criticisms included the lack of an always-on display, a notch-free design, 120Hz on the standard models, and a USB-C port.
New color options, such as Sierra Blue and Starlight, were the main reason to upgrade for 1.1 percent of respondents. On the other hand, 2.4 percent said that dislike of the available color options was the main reason for not upgrading.
36.8 percent of those that are not planning to upgrade said that they are waiting for the iPhone 14 instead. 16.1 percent are switching to an Android device, with 45.1 percent of these users planning to buy a Google device, 41.8 percent planning to buy a Samsung device, and 8.4 percent planning to buy a OnePlus device.
With regards to the other products that Apple announced at its California Streaming special event last month, 18.2 percent of iPhone users are planning to buy a new iPad following the launch of the sixth-generation iPad mini and ninth-generation iPad.
Like the iPhone 13, the Apple Watch Series 7 also appears to have underwhelmed users according to the survey, despite its larger display, more durable design, and faster charging. Just 7.5 percent of iPhone users said that they are planning to buy an Apple Watch Series 7 model. Pre-orders for the Apple Watch Series 7 open on Friday, October 8.
Apple today released new firmware updates for the second-generation AirPods, the AirPods Pro, and the AirPods Max. All three of the AirPod models are now running 4A400 firmware, up from 3E751 for the standard AirPods, 3E756 for the AirPods Max, and 3E751 for the AirPods Pro.
Apple has also released new 4A394 firmware for the Beats Solo Pro, Powerbeats 4, and Powerbeats Pro.
Apple does not offer information on what's included in refreshed firmware for the AirPods Pro, so we don't know what improvements or bug fixes the new firmware brings. The update likely adds Conversation Boost to the AirPods Pro.
Conversation Boost is an iOS 15 feature that uses the beamforming microphones in the AirPods Pro to boost the volume level of conversations, which is ideal for those with mild to moderate hearing challenges.
There's no standard way to upgrade the AirPods software, but firmware is generally installed over-the-air while the AirPods are connected to an iOS device. Putting the AirPods in the case, connecting the AirPods to a power source, and then pairing the AirPods to an iPhone or an iPad should force the update after a short period of time.
You can check your AirPods or AirPods Pro firmware by following these steps:
Connect your AirPods or AirPods Pro to your iOS device.
Open the Settings app.
Tap General.
Tap About.
Tap AirPods.
Look at the number next to "Firmware Version."
If we find notable changes after the firmware updates are installed, we'll share details, but the software likely includes performance improvements and bug fixes.
Apple CEO Tim Cook today reflected on Steve Jobs in a touching memo to employees that was obtained by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Jobs passed away 10 years ago today at the age of 56 following a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer.
In the memo, Cook said that Jobs was a husband, a father, a friend, and a visionary who left an extraordinary legacy behind, adding that not a day goes by that he doesn't think about him. Apple's former design chief Jony Ive shared similarly heartfelt comments about Jobs this week, describing him as the most inquisitive human he has ever met.
Cook's full memo reads as follows:
Team,
Today marks the 10th anniversary of Steve's passing. It's a moment to celebrate his life and to reflect on the extraordinary legacy he left behind.
Steve believed that "people with passion can change the world for the better." That's the philosophy that inspired him to create Apple. And it lives in us today.
Steve was so many things: brilliant, funny, and wise, a husband, a father, a friend, and, of course, a visionary. He challenged us to see the world not for what it was, but for what it could be. And he helped so many people, myself included, see the same potential in ourselves. Not a day goes by that I don't think about him.
This year, as much as any other, we're reminded of the profound impact our products have on the world. I feel so lucky that we spend our days creating wildly innovative tools that connect people, inspire them to think differently, and empower them to make their own dent in the universe, too. It's one of the many gifts that Steve gave to all of us.
I wish Steve were here to see the way his spirit lives on in all of your amazing work. But most of all, I wish he could see what you do next. Steve once said that his proudest achievements were the ones that were yet to come. He spent every day imagining a future that no one else could see and working relentlessly to bring his vision to life.
Steve was a singular figure, but he taught us all how to soar. I miss him, and I will cherish him always.
A number of banks are currently pressuring Visa to make changes to the way it processes some payments made via Apple Pay, moves that would reduce the fees the banks pay to Apple for certain transactions, reports The Wall Street Journal.
At the heart of the issue are automatic recurring payments like memberships and streaming services. Visa is aiming to change the way it issues tokens for Apple Pay cards such that Apple would only receive a transaction fee on an initial subscription payment and not on subsequent transactions.
When Apple introduced Apple Pay in 2014, the iPhone had already clobbered music players, cameras and GPS systems. Banks and card networks worried it also would displace card payments.
Banks agreed to pay Apple 0.15% of each purchase made by their credit cardholders. (They pay a separate fee on debit-card transactions.) Those fees account for most of the revenue that Apple makes from its digital wallet, according to people familiar with the matter.
Aside from the fee arrangement, Apple garnered several other concessions from credit card issuers as it rolled out Apple Pay, and in exchange, Apple agreed not to launch its own credit card network to go up against Visa and Mastercard.
With the launch of Apple Card in partnership with Goldman Sachs, Apple has become more of a direct competitor to other banks, and some bank executives have reportedly been angered by Apple's move and are seeking ways to reduce the payments they make to Apple.
Apple has unsurprisingly informed Visa that it objects to the proposed change that would reduce the fees it receives on recurring transactions, so it remains to be seen whether Visa will follow through on its plans, which are scheduled to go into effect next year.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has previously stated that Apple's greatest contribution to mankind will be related to health, but Insider's Blake Dodge today reported that the company's health team has faced internal issues and a series of high-level departures.
The report, based on conversations with 11 current and former Apple employees and the review of dozens of documents, claims that Apple's health team has faced organizational problems that have left the group "without clear direction and struggling to mesh Apple's hardware-oriented culture with the practices of the medical business."
Some of the employees cited in the report said colleagues faced negative treatment after raising concerns, while some employees expressed concerns about inaccurate information reaching Apple's senior leadership, including Apple's COO Jeff Williams, who oversees both the Apple Watch and the company's broader health initiatives.
In a statement, Apple said many of the assertions in the story "are based on incomplete, outdated, and inaccurate information," adding that "any and all allegations of retaliatory behavior are investigated thoroughly and handled with appropriate corrective actions."
Insider's report provides more details about specific allegations from within Apple's health team.
Apple is now the most popular watch brand among upper-income teenagers in the United States, a new survey by Piper Sandler has shown.
Teen smartwatch ownership has climbed from 30 percent in the fall of 2020 to 35 percent in the fall of 2021. 30 percent of teens now own an Apple Watch, an increase of five percent from the same time last year. Apple now has an 86 percent market share among teen smartwatch owners.
Rolex was previously the reigning most popular watch brand among upper-income teens, but Apple is now the most popular watch brand in this demographic. In the spring of this year, only 13 percent of teens intended to buy an Apple Watch, but this has now increased slightly to 15 percent.
The survey also showed that 30 percent of teens use a fitness app when working out, and 50 percent of these users use an Apple app. In addition, AirPods are owned by 67 percent of teens.
87 percent of teens own an iPhone and 88 percent expect their next smartphone to be an iPhone. These are almost record-high levels. 20 percent of teens currently own an iPhone 12 model, but the iPhone 13 lineup is expected to motivate upgrades and more than 22 percent of teens expect to upgrade to an iPhone 13 model this year.
Apple Pay is the second most popular payment method among teens, but cash is still the most popular. This means that Apple Pay is now more popular than the likes of prepaid cards and PayPal.
Around half of the teenagers in the U.S. are concerned about being tracked online, but 56 percent are not interested in iCloud+, which offers privacy features such as Hide My Email and iCloud Private relay.
The findings are part of Piper Sandler's semi-annual "Taking Stock With Teens" survey, which highlights the trends and brand preferences from 10,000 teens with an average age of 15.8 years across 44 U.S. states, and research cited in an investor note seen by Apple 3.0.
VMware today kicked off a new promotion that's taking 15 percent off everything on its online store through Friday, October 8. This savings event covers software like VMware Fusion 12 Pro, VMware Fusion 12 Player, VMware Workstation 16 Pro, and more.
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.
For commercial use, the VMware Fusion 12 Player software is priced at $126.65, down from $149.00. If you're upgrading from Fusion 10 or greater, you can pay $67.15 for Fusion 12, down from $79.00.
If you're interested in Fusion 12 Player for personal use, a personal use license is free with a valid MyVMware account. Only those who intend to use the software in a commercial setting will need to pay for the license.
You can also get VMware Fusion 12 Pro at the discounted price of $169.15, down from $199.00 for a commercial use license. The Pro version of the software includes a license to run on up to three machines, along with other features.
Be sure to visit our full Deals Roundup to shop for even more Apple-related products and accessories.
Apple is planning two new iPad Pro models with low-power LTPO OLED displays for release in 2023 or 2024, according to Korean website The Elec. The report claims that one of the new models will likely have a 12.9-inch display.
While the iPad Pro has featured ProMotion since 2017, the device supports a smaller range of refresh rates between 24Hz and 120Hz. Following in the footsteps of the iPhone 13 Pro, the switch to LTPO OLED display technology could pave the way for future iPad Pro models to support a wider range of refresh rates between 10Hz and 120Hz.
Refresh rates supported by 2017 and newer iPad Pro models:
120Hz
60Hz
40Hz
30Hz
24Hz
Refresh rates supported by the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max:
Adorama today has a collection of deals on select Apple products, including the AirPods Max, Apple TV 4K, and M1 MacBook Pro.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Adorama. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Apple TV 4K
You can get the 32GB Apple TV 4K for $159.00, down from $179.00. This is a new all-time low price on this model of the Apple TV 4K, and right now it's only available at Adorama.
The 32GB Apple TV 4K is currently on backorder right now, but you can still order the device (with free shipping available for most orders) and Adorama will ship it out when stock returns.
At this time, the 64GB Apple TV 4K isn't on sale on Adorama, although Amazon does have the device for $189.98, down from $199.00. This is a second best price, but it has been the most consistent offer on the 2021 64GB Apple TV 4K.
Although the sales on these Apple TV models aren't particularly steep, they are the best offers around and worth checking out if you're still on the market for the newest Apple TV 4K. You can keep an eye out on Apple TV deals in our Best Apple TV 4K Deals guide.
AirPods Max
Secondly, Adorama has Apple's AirPods Max headphones down to a new all-time low price of $449.00, down from $549.00. This is the first $100 off discount we've tracked on the headphones from a major Apple reseller.
This sale price is available in all AirPods Max colors: Space Gray, Sky Blue, Silver, Green, and Pink. All models are in stock and ready to ship out today.
MacBook Pro
Adorama also has the M1 13-inch MacBook Pro (16GB, 1TB SSD) for $1,699.00, down from $1,899.00. This is a higher-end configuration we haven't seen many deals on in the past, but readers should remember we are also expecting new MacBook Pro models somewhat soon.
Our full Deals Roundup has more information on the latest Apple-related sales and bargains.
Following three months of beta testing, Microsoft has officially released Windows 11, which brings a new design, new multitasking features, and other software additions to the PC-using public.
Perhaps inspired by macOS, the main Windows 11 screen features rounded corners on several interface elements including application windows, and in combination with a new theming system that combines specific wallpapers with colors, the overall design looks modern, with more depth and less clutter than Windows 10, which is now six years old.
In the clearest design change, the refreshed desktop moves the Start menu and taskbar, interface elements that are familiar to all Windows users, to the center of the screen, a location not dissimilar to where the Dock lives in macOS.
The taskbar includes shortcuts to Microsoft's Edge browser, widgets, Teams integration, and File Explorer. Meanwhile, gone are the Live Tiles in the Start menu, which has been stripped down for a cleaner, simpler look, and now houses links to apps and recently used files.
In the bottom-right corner of the screen, the new Action Center and System Tray sports a design reminiscent of the Control Center in the macOS menu bar, and is home to sound, display, Bluetooth, network controls, and pop-out notifications.
Another area where Windows 11 appears to have taken a leaf out of Apple's book is its approach to widgets. Where widgets on macOS slide in from the right side of the screen via Notification Center, Windows 11 has them sliding in from the left side, with a panel that includes weather and news widgets by default.
One of the most notable additions in this version of Windows is in the area of multitasking. Like in macOS with Spaces, users can create multiple virtual desktops for different sets of apps. In addition, a new Snap Assist feature appears when the mouse pointer hovers over the maximize button, and offers up several window layouts that app windows can snap to. These layouts are remembered by Windows and appear as Snap Groups in the taskbar.
Elsewhere, there's a new Microsoft app store featuring many new popular apps, and in a clear divergence from Apple, Microsoft also plans to host third-party stores in its Microsoft Store, including an Epic Games store, although there's no sign of the promised Android apps yet (Microsoft says it plans to preview them before the end of the year.)
Windows 11 will come pre-installed on newer PCs, and Microsoft is also offering the new operating system as an upgrade for Windows 10 users who have a machine that includes the necessary Trusted Platform Module (TPM). Macs powered by Apple silicon do not support Windows and there is no Boot Camp feature like there is on Intel Macs, but support for Windows is a feature that many users would like to see, at least via virtualization software.
However, Microsoft recently dampened hopes that Windows will be able to work on Apple silicon, saying that running an Arm version of Windows 11 on M1 Macs, via virtualization or otherwise, is not "a supported scenario."
Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi last year said that Windows coming to M1 Macs is "up to Microsoft." The M1 chip contains the core technologies needed to run Windows, but Microsoft seems unwilling to license its Arm version of Windows to Mac users.
Apple today commemorated the tenth anniversary of Steve Jobs' passing with a special commemorative homepage on its website, including pictures and a link to a short film that captures some of his most memorable quotes and moments at Apple's helm.
The homepage also includes a statement from the Jobs family, reproduced below:
For a decade now, mourning and healing have gone together. Our gratitude has become as great as our loss.
Each of us has found his or her own path to consolation, but we have come together in a beautiful place of love for Steve, and for what he taught us.
For all of Steve's gifts, it was his power as a teacher that has endured. He taught us to be open to the beauty of the world, to be curious around new ideas, to see around the next corner, and most of all to stay humble in our own beginner's mind.
There are many things we still see through his eyes, but he also taught to look for ourselves. He gave us equipment for living, and it has served us well.
One of our greatest sources of consolation has been our association of Steve with beauty. The sight of something beautiful — a wooded hillside, a well‑made object — recalls his spirit to us. Even in his years of suffering, he never lost his faith in the beauty of existence.
Memory is inadequate for what is in our hearts: we miss him profoundly. We were blessed to have him as husband and father.
Apple's new iPhone 13 series features its latest A15 Bionic processor, which the company says is 50% faster than the competition. That vague claim was the entry point for AnandTech's investigation into the chip's performance, efficiency, and graphics core improvements, and the review's conclusions easily back it up.
Compared to the competition, the A15 isn't +50 faster as Apple claims, but rather +62% faster. While Apple's larger cores are more power hungry, they're still a lot more energy efficient.
Two new CPU microarchitectures feature in the A15, both for the two performance cores and the four efficiency cores, which are likely made on a 5nm+ process, which TSMC refers to as N5P, a "performance-enhanced version" of its 5nm process that allows for higher maximum frequencies.
On top of this, AnandTech notes that the A15 system cache has been boosted to 32MB, which is double the system cache compared to the A14. This doubling "dwarfs the competition" and is a "key factor in the power efficiency of the chip, being able to keep memory accesses on the same silicon rather than going out to slower, and more power inefficient DRAM," says the report.
Apple has also overseen a 50% growth in the level 2 cache of the A15's performance cores, up from 8MB to 12MB, which AnandTech calls "humungous," as it's now the same L2 size as Apple's M1 chip, and over double compared to other designs like the Snapdragon 888. These cache boosts help the A15 to eke out "impressive" gains from a performance core microarchitecture that doesn't differ much from last year's A14, while an additional integer ALU and faster memory subsystem in the efficiency cores only adds to the performance improvements.
Apple A15 performance cores are extremely impressive – usually increases in performance always come with some sort of deficit in efficiency, or at least flat efficiency. Apple here instead has managed to reduce power whilst increasing performance, meaning energy efficiency is improved by 17% on the peak performance states versus the A14.
As for the new A15 GPU, AnandTech calls it "absolutely astonishing," as it showcases improvements that are well above Apple's marketing claims. The only real criticism in the review is the amount of throttling on the iPhone 13 Pro, which AnandTech believes is down to the new PCB design.
Apple's overall iPhone thermal design is said to be "definitely amongst the worst out there, as it doesn't do a good job of spreading the heat throughout the body of the phone." However, even with their somewhat limited thermal capacity, the iPhone 13 models are "still vastly faster and give out a better gaming experience than competitive phones."
In sum, AnandTech says the A15 improvements are "substantial" and believes the efficiency improvements are "key" to the vastly longer battery life seen on the iPhone 13 series. "While the A15 isn't the brute force iteration we've become used to from Apple in recent years, it very much comes with substantial generational gains that allow it to be a notably better SoC than the A14."
Apple on Friday reached a $95 million settlement that, pending court approval, will resolve a class action lawsuit that accused the company of violating the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act and other U.S. laws by replacing customers' devices covered by AppleCare with refurbished devices, according to court documents accessed by MacRumors.
Apple's Repair Terms and Conditions for the U.S. state that, when servicing a customer's product, the company "may use parts or products that are new or refurbished and equivalent to new in performance and reliability." However, plaintiffs in the lawsuit alleged that refurbished or "remanufactured" devices are not "equivalent to new in performance and reliability" and thus sought monetary damages from Apple.
The class includes all U.S. residents who purchased an AppleCare Protection Plan or AppleCare+, either directly or through the iPhone Upgrade Program, on or after July 20, 2012, and received a refurbished replacement device. If approved, the settlement fund will be divided equally among the class members based on the number of refurbished replacement devices they received, according to the court documents.
It is anticipated that the class will receive a total of between $63.4 million and $68.1 million once attorneys' fees and other costs have been deducted. If the settlement is approved, details will be available at ReplacementDeviceLawsuit.com, and class members will also be contacted by email or mail if possible.
Apple "vigorously denied" that refurbished devices are inferior, but it opted to settle with the plaintiffs given the time and costs that would be associated with a continued trial, according to the court documents. Plaintiffs are seeking court approval on October 20 or as soon thereafter as the matter may be heard by the judge presiding over the case.
The case, Maldonado et al v. Apple, Inc et al, was first filed in July 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Update: U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick said he will grant preliminary approval of the $95 million settlement, according to Law360.
Intel today shared a new ad titled Breaking the Spell: Social Experiment. In the four-minute video, Intel invites 12 supposed Apple fans to a focus group showcasing features of "upcoming devices" that were, in fact, PCs that are already on the market. The ad was spotted earlier by French website MacGeneration.
The video starts out by saying that many Apple fans only care about Apple products, and Intel attempts to change that viewpoint. The supposed Apple fans are ushered into a room that looks similar to an Apple Store, creating the impression that they are being shown new Apple products, but the devices are actually PCs powered by Intel processors.
According to Intel's Ryan Shrout, the ad features each participant's "real" reactions instead of scripted ones. "It's surprising to see how many people that utilize tech still don't know the capabilities of the PC," he said in a tweet.
The ad is part of Intel's #GoPC marketing campaign that it launched last year after Apple started transitioning to custom Apple Silicon chips in Macs. Intel even recruited former "I'm a Mac" actor Justin Long for some of the ads.
Apple today informed Apple Authorized Service Providers that it will be adding its AA battery charger and the third-generation Apple TV to its vintage products list on October 31, according to a memo obtained by MacRumors.
Introduced in July 2010, the Apple Battery Charger was priced at $29 and included six rechargeable AA batteries for use with the original Apple Wireless Keyboard, Magic Trackpad, and Magic Mouse for the Mac. Apple discontinued the charger around 2016 and the Magic accessories now have built-in batteries that can be recharged via Lightning.
The third-generation Apple TV was released in March 2012 and many third-party apps have already phased out support for the device. The third-generation model is also the last Apple TV that does not run tvOS, and thus lacks access to the App Store.
In the past, vintage Apple products were no longer eligible for repairs at the Genius Bar or at Apple Authorized Service Providers, but Apple now provides service for up to seven years on vintage products, subject to parts availability.
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 Adorama. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
