MacRumors

Last month, Apple updated the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro with brand new models that include the M2 chip, Wi-Fi 6E, and a few other upgrades. Given the newness of these models we haven't tracked many deals yet, but today Amazon has one of the first notable markdowns on the 128GB Wi-Fi 11-inch iPad Pro at $749.00, down from $799.00.

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.

Among the new M2 iPad Pro models, this is the only sale we're tracking across any of the major Apple resellers online. Amazon has the tablet in stock and an estimated delivery window is set for November 6 to 9.

We're keeping track of all of the season's best Apple-related deals in our Black Friday roundup, so be sure to check back throughout the month for an updated list of all the most notable discounts you'll find for Black Friday 2022.

Apple today announced the launch of its 2022 Holiday Gift Guide and seasonal content across its services.

Starting today, Apple's annual Holiday Gift Guide is available via its website to help customers choose appropriate gifts more easily. Simultaneously, Apple Store locations around the world will provide personalized support for holiday shopping, gift recommendations, and delivery and pickup options. Apple also highlighted its trade-in values, carrier deals, free engravings, financing options, device setup assistance, and extended returns policy.

Alongside the Holiday Gift Guide, Apple pointed out the premiere of "Spirited" on Apple TV+ later this month, a Christmas musical comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell, and the Carols Covered and Classical Carols Covered playlists on Apple Music.

The new Apple TV 4K is now available to purchase today, and Amazon is still offering a small $4 discount on the streaming device, which it first introduced as a pre-order sale last week. You can get the 64GB Wi-Fi model for $124.99, down from $129.00.

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.

While not a massive discount, this is still a notable deal given it's the first discount on the 2022 Apple TV 4K. Because these are brand new, we don't expect much steeper discounts than this to come out any time soon. Although Black Friday is imminent, we are expecting notable sales to focus more on 2021 models, likely dipping below $100.

Likewise, the 128GB Wi-Fi + Ethernet Apple TV 4K is on sale for $144.99, down from $149.00. Only Amazon is offering these launch day discounts on the new Apple TV 4K models.

We're keeping track of all of the season's best Apple-related deals in our Black Friday roundup, so be sure to check back throughout the month for an updated list of all the most notable discounts you'll find for Black Friday 2022.

Starting today, the new Apple TV 4K is available for pickup at select Apple Stores around the world, with no pre-order required. Pricing starts at $129 for the 64GB model without Ethernet and Thread support, while the full-spec 128GB model costs $149.

The new Apple TV is also available for walk-in customers at Apple Stores that have stock, but we recommend arranging a pickup just in case.

To order a product with Apple Store pickup, add the product to your bag on Apple.com or in the Apple Store app, proceed to checkout, select the "I'll pick it up" option, enter your ZIP or postal code, choose an available Apple Store location, select a pickup date, and select a 15-minute check-in window. Payment is completed online, and a valid government-issued photo ID and the order number may be required upon pickup.

Here's a recap of 10 changes with the new Apple TV:

• A15 Bionic chip: The new Apple TV is equipped with the A15 Bionic chip for up to 50% faster performance than the previous model with the A12 Bionic chip. Apple says this results in improved responsiveness and faster navigation. Apple adds that graphics performance is up to 30% faster for smoother gaming.
• 4GB of RAM: The new Apple TV is equipped with 4GB of RAM, compared to 3GB in the previous model, for improved responsiveness.
• 128GB storage option: The new Apple TV is available with up to 128GB of storage, compared to a max of 64GB for the previous model.
• HDR10+ support: In addition to Dolby Vision, the new Apple TV now supports HDR10+ content in supported apps.
• Siri Remote with USB-C port: The new Siri Remote is equipped with a USB-C port instead of Lightning for charging.
• Thinner and lighter design: Apple says the A15 Bionic chip's increased power efficiency allowed for the internal fan to be removed in the new Apple TV, resulting in the device having a more compact design that is around 12% thinner and around 50% lighter than the previous model.
• No more "TV" branding on top: The new Apple TV no longer has "TV" imprinted on the top of the device and instead simply has a centered Apple logo.
• Lower pricing: The new Apple TV starts at $129 with 64GB of storage, while the previous model started at $179 with 32GB of storage. While you need to spend $149 to get an Ethernet port, Thread support, and 128GB of storage, that's still cheaper than any of last year's models.
• No charging cable in the box: The new Apple TV ships without a charging cable in the box for the Siri Remote, except in Brazil. Apple sells a new woven USB-C cable separately for $19.
• Packaging changes: The new Apple TV comes in a slightly more rectangular box that no longer has outer plastic wrap.

Apple has added another assembly partner to its iPhone 14 production roster in India as it seeks to build out its manufacturing base outside of China, reports Bloomberg.

Taiwanese contract manufacturer Pegatron is set to become the second Apple supplier to produce ‌iPhone‌ 14 models in the country behind Foxconn, which began production in India in September.

Apple's Taiwanese assembly partners Foxconn, Wistron, and Pegatron all have ‌‌iPhone‌‌ manufacturing plants in India, where ‌‌iPhone‌‌ 11, ‌iPhone‌ 12, ‌iPhone‌ 13, and most recently ‌iPhone‌ 14 models are being produced, with the latest model enjoying a marked reduction in the delay between Chinese and India output from months to weeks.

Apple's ‌iPhone‌ exports from India have amounted to $1 billion in the five months since April. While small by China's standards, India's increasing ‌‌iPhone‌‌ output signals Apple's willingness to plough investment into the country as an alternative to China's electronics assembly dominance, which has suffered recently from the country's zero-COVID policy.

Foxconn's main Zhengzhou plant, which employs about 200,000 people, has been hit by the stringent curbs after an outbreak at the factory, which led the city of about 10 million people to be locked down as a result. ‌iPhone‌ production could fall by as much as 30% next month due to the tightening COVID-19 restrictions in China, according to one report.

Despite the confluence of events, Apple's manufacturing expansion plans in India have been in place for some time are not connected to China's lockdown troubles, although they do highlight Apple's deep reliance on the one country.

In diversifying its production lines away from China, Apple is playing a long game that won't see a major impact on its supply chain for many years. Bloomberg recently reported that it would take around eight years to move just 10% of Apple's production capacity out of China, where about 98% of iPhones are still made.

Netflix launched its new ad-supported plan this week, but it doesn't yet work on Apple TV devices, including the new third-generation ‌Apple TV‌ 4K launching today.

Costing $6.99 per month in the United States, the new "Basic With Ads" plan is $3 cheaper than the standard Basic plan, but ‌Apple TV‌ owners looking to take advantage of the more affordable tier will have to wait.

"Basic with ads plan support on tvOS is not available at launch but coming soon," Netflix told Variety. A Netflix support page, spotted by 9to5Mac, notes that you can only watch Netflix on ‌Apple TV‌ if you are subscribed to the Basic, Standard, or Premium plans.

Netflix didn't explain why the Basic With Ads plan doesn't work on ‌Apple TV‌, despite it being available on Amazon Fire TV devices, Android, Chromecast with Google TV, game consoles, iOS devices, and numerous smart TVs. It could have something to do with the fact that Netflix accelerated the timeline for the plan's launch from early 2023 to early November in order to get out ahead of the Disney+ ad tier coming next month, but we don't know for sure.

Netflix's ad-supported plan first rolled out in Canada and Mexico on November 1, and launched in the U.S. on November 3. The more affordable tier is also live in the U.K., Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Spain.

Aside from including ads, the Basic With Ads plan limits video streaming resolution to a maximum of 720p, and some movies and TV shows are not available because of licensing restrictions (they're marked with a red padlock in the Netflix interface). Unlike with the plans without ads, the ad-based tier does not support downloading movies and TV shows for offline viewing either.

Apple's market value this week briefly eclipsed the value of Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta combined, according to market data by Yahoo Finance.

When markets closed earlier this week, Apple had a market value of $2.307 trillion, while the market value of Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta combined was $2.306 trillion. Alphabet leads the group with a market value of $1.126 trillion alone.

The new valuation comes after Apple reported record-high earnings for the September quarter last week but also comes amid reports the company is drastically cutting down on new hires as it braces for possible economic uncertainty. Apple was the only company out of Amazon, Meta, and Alphabet that had increased market share after reporting their latest earnings.

Apple's market value dipped to $2.21 trillion as markets closed late Thursday.

It is Friday, November 4 in New Zealand and Australia, which means it is the official launch day of the new third-generation Apple TV 4K. Customers in Australia and New Zealand are always the first to get their hands on new devices due to time zone differences.

Customers who ordered an ‌Apple TV‌ 4K back on October 18 are starting to receive their deliveries. There are no Apple Stores in New Zealand, so customers in Australia will be the first to be able to buy one of the new ‌Apple TV‌ 4K models at an Apple retail location.

We are expecting most stores worldwide to have the ‌Apple TV‌ 4K readily available for walk-in purchase, as the ‌Apple TV‌ is not typically a device that sees high demand.

The ‌Apple TV‌ 4K is equipped with a much faster A15 Bionic chip that offers 50 percent faster CPU performance and 30 percent faster GPU performance compared to the A12 chip in the prior-generation model. It also includes 4GB RAM, up from 3GB, and there are 64 and 128GB variants available.

Along with HDR10 and Dolby Vision, the new ‌Apple TV‌ 4K supports HDR10+ on televisions that offer the feature, plus it has a thinner and lighter design than the prior version. It also comes with a new Siri Remote equipped with a USB-C port.

Pricing on the ‌Apple TV‌ 4K starts at $129 for the 64GB version, and goes up to $149 for the model with 128GB of storage, a built-in Ethernet port, and Thread support for connected home devices. The new ‌Apple TV‌ 4K is more affordable than prior-generation models that started at $179.

Following New Zealand and Australia, sales of the ‌‌Apple TV‌ 4K will begin in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and finally, North America. The ‌Apple TV‌ 4K is expected to be Apple's final product launch of 2022, and there are no more devices on the horizon for the year. We are expecting to see new Macs sometime early in 2023.

Apple in October paused hiring for most jobs outside of research and development, according to a report from Bloomberg. Apple is aiming to cut costs, and the new hiring freeze furthers a July plan that Apple implemented to slow hiring and spending.

The pause in hiring does not apply to teams working on future devices and long-term initiatives, but sources that spoke to Bloomberg said it will impact "corporate functions and standard hardware and software engineering roles."

Apple's website still lists open jobs, but the hiring process is on hold behind the scenes. News of the expanded hiring freeze was initially reported earlier this week by Insider, and the site said that Apple has "paused almost all hiring." Staff across multiple divisions have been told that Apple will not be onboarding new hires for several months, perhaps through the end of September 2023.

Insider's sources said that Apple has not provided budgets for new hires, and that budgets within the company are "under review" as Apple aims to cut costs.

Apple in a statement told Insider that it is continuing to hire, but because of the "current economic environment" it is "taking a very deliberate approach in some parts of the business."

"We are very confident in Apple's future and are investing for the long term. We want to be thoughtful and make smart decisions that enable us to continue fueling innovation for the long term," said Apple.

During the earnings call for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2022, Apple said that it would see slowing growth during the holiday quarter. Mac sales in particular are expected to fall dramatically compared to last year as Apple does not plan to debut any Macs in late 2022. There are no more products rumored to be launching this year, in fact.

The PayPal and Venmo iOS apps will soon offer Apple's Tap to Pay on iPhone functionality, allowing merchants that use PayPal or Venmo to accept contactless debit or credit cards and mobile wallet payments, including Apple Pay.

PayPal shared the news in its latest earnings report, which was released today.

Leveraging Apple's Tap to Pay on iPhone technology, U.S. merchant customers will soon be able to accept contactless debit or credit cards and mobile wallets, including Apple Pay, using an iPhone and the PayPal or Venmo iOS app.

Introduced in February, Tap to Pay is designed to allow compatible iPhones to accept payments via ‌Apple Pay‌, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets with no additional hardware required.

As of now, Tap to Pay is available in Apple retail locations, and Square has also launched support for the feature. Small merchants and independent retailers who use Square for payment purposes can accept contactless payments directly in the Square Point of Sale app with no Square add-on hardware device.

Tap to Pay is a feature that is supported on the ‌iPhone‌ XS or newer, and it is simple to use. Sellers just need to open up the app, register the sale, and present their ‌iPhone‌ to the buyer, who can then use an appropriate contactless payment method. Stripe, Adyen, and others are also using Tap to Pay.

In addition to introducing support for Tap to Pay, PayPal says that it also plans to add ‌Apple Pay‌ as a payment option in checkout flows on merchant platforms, plus starting next year, customers in the U.S. will be able to add PayPal and Venmo network-branded credit and debit cards to Apple Wallet, using them in locations where ‌Apple Pay‌ is accepted.

Samsung this week released a new anti-Apple "On the Fence" ad that once again targets Apple's lack of foldable devices. In the spot, a man sits on a fence overlooking a retail store designed to look like an Apple Store.

"Hey, what are you doing up there?" asks an Apple-like employee. "You can't sit on the fence." "But on the Samsung side, they have folding phones and epic cameras," replies the man. His speech attracts another "Apple" customer interested in foldable devices, while the fake Apple employee tries to talk him out of leaving. "We're waiting for all that to come over here," explains the employee.

"Why? It's already over there," replies the potential Samsung customer. "Because that's what we do. We wait," says the fake Apple employee.

Samsung has a long history of poking fun at Apple in its ad spots and insulting Apple devices in order to promote its own products. Samsung's Anti-Apple ads have picked up in recent months, with Samsung focusing heavily on the fact that Apple has not yet come out with a foldable device.

Samsung in September, for example, launched a first-to-foldables campaign mocking the iPhone's lack of innovation while promoting Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip features. "What's the hold on the Fold, Apple?" Samsung asked. Samsung also encouraged people to "join the Flip side," choosing a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip device over the iPhone 14 models.

There's no word as of yet on when Apple might come out with some kind of foldable device, and Samsung has indeed been selling foldable smartphones since 2019. Early Fold devices had a long list of issues with screen quality and durability, which perhaps explains why Apple has waited to come out with a foldable device.

Newer foldables from Samsung are more durable and have fewer issues, but continue to have high price points ranging from $900 for the latest Z Flip to $1,600 for the latest Z Fold.

With the iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 updates, Apple is enhancing the Weather app through the integration of an Apple News section. Located below the 10-day forecast on iPhone, the ‌Apple News‌ module surfaces relevant regional news stories.

In Raleigh, for example, the app displays a story about hurricanes in the Atlantic, and in San Diego, there is a story about fire season. Content varies based on location, and tapping on a story shown in the Weather app opens up the ‌Apple News‌ app.

Not all cities show news stories at all times and it appears that when there's a weather alert at the top of the app, such as for rain or severe weather alerts, the news module is also removed. It is not clear if weather-related alerts are limited to select cities, or show up only when relevant information is available. As of now, the feature appears to be live only in the United States.

Apple appears to have introduced the new Weather app module server-side, but it is only showing up on devices that are running iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2, suggesting it is meant to be a new feature added with the beta updates.

Apple is making some changes to the TV app, and users are not happy with the updates. The updated design appears to be visible primarily for iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, tvOS 16.2, and macOS Ventura 13.1 beta users, but it is likely a server-side change that Apple is introducing that will eventually roll out to all TV app users.

Apple's new design adds a Featured section to the top of the "Watch Now" section in the TV app, with the featured content placed above the "Up Next" watchlist. The change makes it more difficult for users to get to the content they are interested in, with random TV shows taking up the majority of the screen.

In the current release versions of iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and macOS, "Up Next" is at the top of the "Watch Now" tab for quick access to shows and movies that are in progress or that have been placed on a watch list.

There are a number of complaints about the new design on Reddit from users who are unhappy with the way that Featured TV shows and movies supplant Up Next content. This section seems to display quite a few Apple TV+ shows and movies, but it does also highlight shows and movies from other streaming providers. Regardless of content shown, TV users do not seem to want suggested content replacing their chosen content at the forefront of the app. From Reddit user robber3572:

I don't mind the discovery aspect, which I agree is what the tv app is all about. It's highlighting this featured content above (literally and figuratively) the content that I watch on a regular basis that's annoying and intrusive. This featured content is now prominent in the tv app and it highlights shows/movies I would never have an interest in watching.

The TV+ tab in the TV app already had this design that puts content above watch lists, and it is expanding to the Watch Now tab as well. When the Up Next section is selected on the ‌Apple TV‌, the Featured section is still visible, and the previews of Up Next shows are gone. Featured also dominates the interface on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

At the current time, there is no way to disable the featured section to put Up Next content back at the top of the app, and it is not clear if Apple is still tweaking the design or if this is a finalized look. What's worse, the featured content seems to autoplay, ignoring settings for Up Next that prevented shows from previewing content. There does not appear to be a way to turn off autoplay for featured shows and movies.

Google in October launched the Pixel 7 Pro, its newest high-end flagship smartphone. The Pixel 7 Pro came out just weeks after Apple's new iPhone 14 Pro Max, so we thought we'd compare the cameras of the two smartphones, pitting the high-end ‌iPhone‌ against the high-end Pixel 7.

On paper, the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max and the Pixel 7 Pro have similar camera systems. The ‌iPhone‌ is equipped with a 12-megapixel Ultra Wide lens, a 12-megapixel Telephoto lens, and a 48-megapixel Wide lens, which Apple calls the "main" camera. The Pixel 7 Pro has a 12-megapixel ultra wide lens, a 48-megapixel telephoto lens, and a 50-megapixel wide-angle lens. The Pixel 7 Pro wins out in terms of raw megapixels, especially for the telephoto lens.

What we've learned from camera comparisons over the years is that high-end smartphones all take similar pictures, and they all turn out great. For the most part, you are going to get stunning images with both the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max and the Pixel 7 Pro, though there are some differences to be aware of.

With standard photos, the shadows are darker in the ‌iPhone‌ images, with the Pixel 7 Pro lightening things up a bit. Images from the Pixel 7 Pro are less saturated, and we are seeing more vibrant colors from the ‌iPhone‌. In some cases, the images coming direct from the Pixel 7 Pro camera look sharper, though that could be a software effect and a difference in the editing that Google does behind the scenes.

Both wide angle and ultra wide images come out similarly, but the Pixel 7 Pro's telephoto capabilities are much better than the telephoto features offered by the ‌iPhone‌. Google added 5x optical zoom, compared to 3x optical zoom for the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max, and it makes a difference. In fact, there's a 30x Super Res digital zoom option that's impressively sharp.

In Portrait Mode, the Pixel 7 Pro offers more depth of field for more background blur, which some people will prefer. It can sometimes have trouble separating the subject from the background, and it works better with people than it does with objects.

As for Night Mode, both smartphones have pros and cons. The Pixel 7 Pro is better at nighttime portrait shots of people because the ‌iPhone‌ tends to be too soft around the face, but the ‌iPhone‌ is better at shots that include the sky. The Pixel 7 Pro is sharper across more images and it wins out when it comes to astrophotography, but there are issues with artifacting in some images.

With video, the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max does a better job, which is a theme that we've seen for several years now. The ‌iPhone‌'s video is crisper, though Google has made some strides with stabilization. Cinematic Mode on the ‌iPhone‌ has improved in 2022 with support for 24 and 30fps 4K video, while the Pixel's Cinematic Blur is limited to 30fps.

All in all, the Pixel 7 Pro has an edge when it comes to photos, and the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max wins in the video category, but both smartphones take excellent images and it's often hard to decide which one is better. What do you think of the Pixel 7 Pro? Let us know in the comments below.

Following the announcement of new Apple TV 4K models in October, we've been tracking steep markdowns on the 2021 models on Amazon. These sales have continued into November, and right now you can get the 32GB Apple TV 4K for $99.99, down from its original price of $179.00.

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.

This remains the best price we've ever tracked on this model of the 2021 Apple TV 4K, and it makes the streaming device about $29 cheaper than the brand new entry-level Apple TV 4K model, which starts with 64GB. Current shipping estimates on Amazon provide a November 5 to 10 delivery window.

We're keeping track of all of the season's best Apple-related deals in our Black Friday roundup, so be sure to check back throughout the month for an updated list of all the most notable discounts you'll find for Black Friday 2022.

Smart home accessory maker Nanoleaf today announced the upcoming launch of new products that are compatible with Matter, a smart home standard that Apple began supporting with the launch of iOS 16.1. Matter is designed to allow for interoperability between smart home devices from different manufacturers.

Nanoleaf is debuting Matter-equipped A19, GU10, and BR30 light bulbs, as well as a Lightstrip, with all of the products part of the company's Essentials line. The bulbs and the lightstrip offer more than 16 million color options as well as tunable whites with color temperatures ranging from 2700-6500K.

The new Essentials devices are able to play color-changing lighting scenes that can be customized with the Nanoleaf app. With Matter integration, the Essentials products are compatible with HomeKit and other smart home platforms like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.

Matter-compatible Essentials Smart Bulbs and Lightstrips are set to launch in early 2023 and will be priced from $20 to $100. Nanoleaf plans to introduce additional Matter-compatible products at CES in January.

Photo editing app Darkroom today announced the launch of new highlight and shadow recovery tools, which are available as an expansion of the existing recovery sliders.

Darkroom says that the Exposure, Whites, Highlights, Shadows, and Blacks sliders have been rebuilt from the ground up in a major technical investment that allows users to access edits that were previously out of reach.

A luminance curve adjusts the dark and bright areas of the image, while a histogram-equalization algorithm enhances clarity in the midtones to avoid a flat look. A frequency-domain algorithm detects busy areas in the image and enhances contrast, and all of the new algorithms are spatially aware to allow for tweaks to each part of an image.

The highlight and shadow recovery tools are available for all image types, but Darkroom says they work particularly well for RAW photos as there is more detail to recover.

With the launch of the new tools, Darkroom is discontinuing the Photos Editing Extension that allowed the Apple ‌Photos‌ app to be used to make Darkroom edits. The feature is being discontinued because of memory constraints and resolution limitations.

Darkroom is free to download, but premium Darkroom+ features are available for $5 per month or $30 per year. Darkroom can be downloaded from the App Store. [Direct Link]