MacRumors

watchOS 9 will feature a new power-saving mode that will let users use an Apple Watch and its apps and features without taking up a significant amount of battery life, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported today.

Currently, the Apple Watch features "Power Reserve" mode, which greatly limits Apple Watch functionality to only show users the time. With watchOS 9, Apple is looking to port over Low Power Mode from the iPhone to the Apple Watch, letting users use apps and features while using less battery life.

For watchOS 9, Apple also is planning a new low-power mode that is designed to let its smartwatch run some apps and features without using as much battery life. Currently, Apple Watches in low-power mode -- known on the device as Power Reserve -- can only access the time. The company is also planning to refresh many of its built-in watch faces currently shipping with the device.

The added new feature in watchOS 9 is part of Apple's overall efforts to improve battery life on the Apple Watch, which has remained mainly stagnant over the years.

watchOS 9 will also include a new detection feature for atrial fibrillation that will track how long an individual has been in a state of atrial fibrillation, according to Bloomberg. Apple will preview iOS 16, iPadOS 16, macOS 13, and watchOS 9 during WWDC from June 6 through June 10.

Amazon this week has introduced new all-time low prices on two models of the Apple Watch, including the Apple Watch Series 7 and the Apple Watch SE.

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.

Apple Watch Series 7

Starting with the Apple Watch Series 7, you can get the 41mm GPS Green Aluminum model with Clover Sport Band for $313.00, down from $399.00. At $86 off, this is now the best price we've ever tracked on the 41mm GPS Apple Watch Series 7.

Only the Green model is on sale at this price; all other colors in the 41mm GPS Aluminum category of the Series 7 are priced at $329.00, which is still a solid second-best price. All models are in stock and shipped directly from Amazon.

Apple Watch SE

Similarly, we're tracking a new best-ever price on one model of the Apple Watch SE. Specifically, you can get the 44mm GPS Silver Aluminum model with Abyss Blue Sport Band for $249.00, down from $309.00.

We typically track the 44mm GPS Apple Watch SE at a discounted price of $259.99, so today's sale is providing an even steeper markdown in comparison. Only the Silver Aluminum/Abyss Blue Sport Band model is on sale at this price, and it's in stock and sold directly by Amazon.

The 40mm Apple Watch SE is also being discounted this week to its usual sale price of $229.00, down from $279.00. This one's available in the Space Gray Aluminum/Midnight Sport Band and Gold Aluminum/Starlight Sport Band color options.

Keep up with all of this week's best discounts on Apple products and related accessories in our dedicated Apple Deals roundup.

An unreleased Mac mini has been spotted within code of the latest Studio Display firmware, adding credence to rumors that Apple is working on an updated ‌Mac mini‌ that could debut sometime this year.

Developer Steve Troughton-Smith revealed on Twitter that within iOS 15.4 for the Studio Display, a reference to "Macmini10,1" has been found. That model identifier does not match any existing released ‌Mac mini‌ and is likely to be the model ID for a rumored upcoming ‌Mac mini‌.

Earlier rumors suggested that Apple had plans to release a new high-end ‌Mac mini‌ to replace the Intel-based model in the lineup. Following the launch of the Mac Studio, a hybrid between the ‌Mac mini‌ and Mac Pro, however, rumors have been slightly unclear on whether the upcoming ‌Mac mini‌ is a low-end or high-end product.

Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has cautioned against the prospect that a new high-end ‌Mac mini‌ would be announced this year, saying instead a launch will take place in 2023. Apple may be planning to release a new low-end ‌Mac mini‌ to replace the M1 model currently in the lineup with the "M2" Apple silicon chip while keeping a high-end model planned for next year, as Kuo has indicated.

Plex is set to end support for podcasts on Friday, the company behind the media management platform has announced.

Web Shows on the Plex media server will also close this week, the company said in a post on the Plex forum, although most of the content the section hosted will still be available to users elsewhere on the platform.

As part of our ongoing effort to make sure we're spending our time and energy in ways that best serve our awesome user community, we've made the decision to end support for Podcasts and Web Shows within Plex. We recognize this decision will impact several of you greatly, and we apologize for the inconvenience it will cause. You can continue to access these features within Plex until Friday, April 15th, 2022, at which point they will no longer be available.

Plex didn't say exactly why it had decided to end support for podcasts and close the Web Shows portal of its media management offering, but the wording suggests that neither section was being used enough to make them worth the time and money spent maintaining them.

For those who want to export their podcast subscription list in OPML format for use in other players, the Plex forum post provides instructions on how to go about it before support closes.

As noted by XDA Developers, Plex podcast support has largely stood still since it was introduced in 2018, and there are several complaints from users in the Plex forums about buggy performance and other issues going all the way back to its inception.

Critical Apple suppliers who produce iPhones and MacBooks have suspended production in key locations amid new restrictions and lockdowns that threaten an already constrained supply chain, Nikkei Asia reports.

Citing a stock exchange filing, Nikkei Asia reports that Pegatron, one of Apple's leading iPhone suppliers after Foxconn, has suspended ‌iPhone‌ production at its facilities in Shanghai and Kunshan. The two sites are Pegatron's only two production sites that make iPhones, with the supplier responsible for 20-30% of all iPhones made, the report added.

Another Apple supplier, Quanta, responsible for MacBook Air and MacBook Pro production, has revealed that production has been suspended in Shanghai since the start of the month. Dozens of other suppliers, directly and indirectly part of Apple's supply chain, are also seeing operations disrupted.

Apple has dealt with a constrained supply chain for some time now, with product availability and supply fluctuating over several months. Apple will announce Q2 earnings for the year on April 28 where company executives are likely to provide some context on how the supply chain is doing.

ChargerLAB today shared alleged images of Apple's unreleased 35W power adapter with dual USB-C ports, providing a first look at the accessory's potential design.

The images suggest that the charger will have a compact design with side-by-side USB-C ports, foldable prongs, and circular indents that would provide extra grip for removing the charger from a power outlet. 35W would be suitable for charging a wide range of Apple devices, such as iPhones, iPads, the latest MacBook Air, and the HomePod mini.

A reference to the power adapter was first uncovered last week in a document that was briefly published on Apple's website:

Use the Apple 35W Dual USB-C Port Power Adapter and a USB-C cable (not included) to charge your device. Connect a USB-C cable to either port on the power adapter, extend the electrical prongs (if necessary), then plug the power adapter firmly into the power outlet. Ensure the power outlet is easily accessible for disconnecting. Connect the other end of the cable to your device.

In early March, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo tweeted that Apple was working on a 30W power adapter with a new design. In a follow-up tweet, Kuo has since suggested that the 35W power adapter could be the same one that he was alluding to. Kuo said the charger is "nearing mass production" and would be released at some point in 2022.

Kuo said the charger would utilize gallium nitride (GaN) technology, allowing it to be smaller, lighter, and more power efficient than silicon-based chargers. Apple released its first GaN charger last year in the form of its 140W USB-C power adapter for the 16-inch MacBook Pro, and third-party brands like Anker and Belkin also offer GaN chargers.

Back in 2018, ChargerLAB's sister website Chongdiantou showed off real-world photos of Apple's then-unreleased 18W power adapter for iPhones.

Apple's worldwide Mac shipments were slightly up in the first quarter of 2022, according to new PC shipping estimates shared this afternoon by Gartner. Apple shipped an estimated 7 million Macs during the quarter, up from 6.5 million in the year-ago quarter, marking 8.6 percent growth.

Apple was the number four vendor during the quarter, a position that it has held for some time. Market share was at 9 percent, up from 7.7 percent in Q1 2021. The overall PC market was more unstable, and several vendors saw a decrease in shipments.

Lenovo continued to be the number one PC vendor in Q1 2022 with 18.3 million PCs shipped, but saw a 12.6 percent decline in the number of shipments. HP, the number two vendor, saw a 17.8 percent decline and shipped 15.9 million PCs. Dell came in at number three with 13.7 million PCs shipped and five percent growth, while ASUS and Acer were the number five and six vendors.

Overall, there were 77.5 million PCs shipped in the first quarter of 2022, down 7.3 percent from the 83.6 million shipped in the first quarter of 2021. Gartner says that overall PC shipment numbers were impacted by a decline in Chromebook sales in the educational market.

In the United States, Apple was the number four vendor with 2.8 million Macs shipped, up from 2.3 million in the year-ago quarter, marking impressive growth of 18.6 percent. Apple's U.S. market share came in at 14.5 percent, up from 10.2 percent in the year-ago quarter.

Dell, HP, and Lenovo all shipped more PC units than Apple in the U.S., with shipments of 5.1 million, 4.3 million, and 3.3 million, respectively.

Apple has seen success with its M1-based Macs, most recently introducing the M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro models in October 2021 and the ‌M1 Max‌ and M1 Ultra Mac Studio models in March. Apple is close to converting its entire Mac line to Apple silicon powered machines, with just the Mac mini and the Mac Pro continuing to use Intel chips.

IDC also released its own shipping estimates this morning, noting similar growth for Apple. According to IDC, Apple shipped an estimated 7.2 million Macs, up from an estimated 6.9 million in the year-ago quarter.

Data shared by Gartner and IDC is estimated and not reflective of Apple's actual sales, and the numbers can fluctuate quite a bit over time. Estimated data used to be able to be confirmed when Apple provided quarterly earnings results with actual Mac sales information, but Apple no longer breaks out unit sales for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, making it impossible to determine exact sales numbers.

Corporate Apple employees in the United States began returning to their offices today, ending a two-year work from home policy that Apple implemented during the pandemic. Employees at locations like Apple Park and Infinite Loop were last month given a deadline of April 11 for returning to in-person work.

Apple has been eager to get employees back in the office and scheduled return dates several times, only to have to push those dates back as COVID infection rates surged. Apple delayed the official return indefinitely back in December, promising to give employees at least one month notice to prepare to return to offices. The notice was sent out in March following a drop in infections and a relaxing of social distancing and masking policies across the U.S.

Though many tech companies have implemented permanent work from home options for some employees, Apple is not one of them. Throughout the global health crisis, Apple has made it clear that employees would eventually need to return to in-person work and collaboration.

"For all that we've been able to achieve while many of us have been separated, the truth is that there has been something essential missing from this past year: each other," Apple CEO Tim Cook told employees back in June 2021. "Video conference calling has narrowed the distance between us, to be sure, but there are things it simply cannot replicate."

Apple is not forcing employees to return to the office five days a week, and has instead adopted a gradual return strategy and a hybrid home/office work policy. Apple employees are currently required to work from the office at least one day per week by April 11, at least two days per week by May 2, and at least three days per week by May 23.

When the three-day in-office work policy is enacted on May 23, employees will be required to be in the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with most able to work remotely on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Square today announced a new version of its Square Stand point-of-sale system that allows businesses to easily accept in-person payments.

The second-generation Square Stand combines an iPad, the Square POS app, and built-in payment readers for contactless payments like Apple Pay and chip-enabled credit and debit cards. The original Square Stand required separate payment readers.

With the same swivel design as the original, the new Square Stand can easily be turned towards a customer at a checkout. There are several payment methods available, including tapping an iPhone or Apple Watch with Apple Pay, tapping a chip-enabled card, or inserting a chip-enabled card. For magnetic stripe payments that still require swiping, Square sells a magstripe reader that can plug into the Square Stand's audio jack.

The new Square Stand is available to order starting today for $149 in the United States, while orders begin in June in the UK. The stand is compatible with 10.2-inch and 10.5-inch iPad models, such as the ninth-generation iPad and the third-generation iPad Air. The iPad must be purchased separately, but the Square POS app is free to use.

Apple's AirPods 3 have dropped to $149.99 on Amazon this week, down from $179.00. As usual, Amazon is currently the only major Apple reseller offering the AirPods 3 at this low of a price, and they're being sold directly from Amazon.

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 sale is about $10 off from the all-time low price that we tracked on this pair of AirPods over the holidays, and it's one of the best deals that we've seen in 2022. Amazon is offering free delivery for as soon as this Friday, April 15 to most places in the United States.

The AirPods 3 were introduced in October 2021 and feature a more compact stem similar to the AirPods Pro, and a redesigned contoured fit. There's a force sensor built into the stem for physical control over media and Siri, and they come with a MagSafe Charging Case.

We track sales for every model of the AirPods in our Best AirPods Deals guide, so be sure to bookmark that page while you shop around for the wireless headphones.

Apple will face additional antitrust charges in the European Union related to a music streaming probe triggered by a complaint from Spotify, Reuters reports.

The charges are part of an ongoing investigation by the European Commission into accusations of anti-competitive conduct in the music streaming market from Spotify and suggest that the EU is strengthening its case against Apple amid growing scrutiny into big tech across the region.

In 2019, Spotify filed a complaint with the European Commission, alleging that Apple enforces App Store rules that "purposely limit choice and stifle innovation at the expense of the user experience," accusing the company of "acting as both a player and referee to deliberately disadvantage other app developers."

In particular, Spotify highlighted that Apple's 30 percent commission on ‌App Store‌ purchases, including in-app subscriptions, forces the music streaming service to charge existing subscribers $12.99 per month for its Premium plan on the ‌App Store‌, just to collect the $9.99 per month it usually charges.

It is proposed that this gives Apple an "unfair advantage," since Spotify is unable to fairly compete with Apple Music's standard $9.99 per month price within the ‌‌App Store‌‌. If Spotify chooses not to collect payments via the ‌‌App Store‌‌, Apple purportedly "applies a series of technical and experience-limiting restrictions" on the company. It is also said that Apple was "locking Spotify and other competitors out of Apple services such as Siri, HomePod, and Apple Watch," thereby making ‌Apple Music‌ a more attractive option for subscribers.

In April 2021, the investigation found Apple to be in breach of EU competition law. Apple denied allegations of anti-competitive behavior, and said at the time of Spotify's complaint that its rival was using "its financial motivations in misleading rhetoric."

An individual familiar with the matter speaking to Reuters said that the European Commission now intends to set out extra antitrust charges in a supplementary statement of objections, which are normally used when an EU competition enforcer has changed parts of its case or obtained new evidence. The additional charges will reportedly be issued in the coming weeks.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Amazon today knocked the price of the 64GB Apple TV 4K down to $169.99, from $199.00. This model is sold directly from Amazon and it's in stock and ready to ship out today.

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 deal now matches the same sale price of the 32GB Apple TV 4K, allowing you to double the storage of the set-top box at no extra cost. Compared to past sales, this is a match of the all-time low price on this version of the 2021 Apple TV 4K.

Apple updated the Apple TV 4K in April 2021, including an A12 Bionic processor, 4K high frame rate HDR support, and the redesigned Siri Remote. This version of the Siri Remote is larger than the previous model, and it includes a clickpad control wheel, a dedicated power button, and a side button for Siri controls.

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.

Following a lengthy testing period, YouTube's picture-in-picture support for iOS will begin rolling out in the next few days, allowing all users, including non-premium and premium subscribers, to close the YouTube app and continue watching their video in a small pop-up window.

Google in June announced that picture-in-picture support would be rolling out to both premium and non-paying YouTube app users in the U.S., but many people outside the country have been able to get it working, so the company could be making it globally available.

Only YouTube Premium subscribers have had access to picture-in-picture mode on iOS as an "experimental feature," and at one stage this was interpreted to mean it would remain a premium-only feature, until Google clarified that it would eventually be coming to all users in the country.

On Sunday, in a tweeted response to a user having problems accessing the experimental feature, YouTube said picture in picture would be available in "a matter of days" for devices running iOS 15 and later.

For those unfamiliar with the feature, picture-in-picture allows videos to be watched while using other apps. When watching a video, users can tap the picture-in-picture button to move the video to a smaller window that floats over the Home Screen or other apps.

YouTube has extended the testing period for the feature several times in an effort to improve the experience before an official launch, and it now appears that the company is almost ready for it to go live.

• How to Use Picture in Picture Mode on iPhone

The availability of YouTube picture-in-picture has been back and forth, with the feature sometimes working via the YouTube website on Safari. Some users have resorted to Shortcuts to turn off built-in parameters on the YouTube site that disables picture-in-picture. But with official support just around the corner, those workarounds will no longer be needed.

Update: YouTube has clarified its earlier comment about the rollout "in a matter of days," and said that it was made in reference to YouTube TV, not YouTube.

"What's currently being rolled out is the YouTube TV picture-in-picture for iOS 15+ devices," YouTube said on Twitter. "If you're referring to the YouTube app, it's only available to Premium members on Android mobile phones.

Apple and its main supplier Foxconn are now producing the iPhone 13 in India, the company confirmed to Reuters, signaling a continued push to diversify its product supply chain outside of China.

India has become the home of production for several of Apple's products. Last year, the company began to produce the iPhone 12 in the country and according to Reuters, Apple has plans to begin iPad production locally.

Apple has taken advantage of several government schemes aimed to boost local production of products, cut down costs, and offer employment opportunities. Apple began production in India first with the ‌iPhone‌ SE in 2017, according to Reuters.

In 2020, Apple launched its online store in India, offering customers a direct way to purchase products directly from the company without having to go through a reseller. Apple had promised that its first retail store will open in India by the end of 2021, however with that deadline now passed, it remains to be seen how soon an Apple Store opens in the country.

Yesterday, MacRumors reported on a growing number of Studio Display owners who were unable to update their display to iOS 15.4, and now, less than a day later, Apple has resolved the issue which originated from the software being unverified by the servers.

As highlighted on Twitter and confirmed by MacRumors, iOS 15.4, the latest software update for the Studio Display, had been unsigned by Apple as of late last week, making software updates for the display impossible. A few hours later, Apple resigned iOS 15.4 for the Studio Display, making software updates for customers once again possible.

The Studio Display does run iOS 15.4, and that's currently the latest software update for the display. While it does run iOS, updates for the Studio Display do not seem to be coordinated with typical iOS and iPadOS releases.

Apple released iOS and iPadOS 15.4.1 for iPhone and iPad users last month, but the Studio Display remains with iOS 15.4. Apple has promised an update for the Studio Display that addresses poor webcam quality but has offered no timeline on when the update would be made available.

iOS 16, codenamed "Sydney" and set to be previewed at WWDC in June, will feature "significant" improvements to notifications and new health-tracking features but will not a feature major redesign of iOS, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said today.

In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman writes that he is not expecting a major redesign of iOS but that instead, the next version of iOS will include enhancements to notification and new health-tracking features.

On the iOS side, I'm looking for some fairly significant enhancements across the board, including an update to notifications and new health-tracking features.

I'm not expecting an end-to-end redesign of iOS's interface, even though it hasn't changed much since iOS 7 nearly a decade ago. But there might be a new iPadOS multitasking interface.

Apple will preview iOS 16, alongside iPadOS 16, macOS 13, watchOS 9, and tvOS 16 during WWDC, which will officially be held on June 6 until June 10.

Gurman said today that watchOS 9 may feature "major upgrades to activity and health tracking." No details are known of what macOS 13 will include, including what it will be called. macOS Big Sur featured a major redesign and was followed by a less significant update with macOS Monterey.

Staying on the Mac side of things, however, Gurman did today reiterate that Apple is working on several new Macs, including a new redesigned MacBook Air, a revamped 13-inch MacBook Pro, an updated 24-inch iMac, and a new Mac mini. For a complete rundown of what Apple could announce at WWDC this year, see our detailed roundup.

Some owners of the new Studio Display are facing issues when attempting to update Apple's newest monitor to its latest firmware, causing some customers to be told by Apple Support to bring in their display for repair at an Apple Store or authorized repair center.

A growing thread on the Apple Support forum (1, 2) includes owners of the Studio Display reporting that as they try to update the display, they're being presented with an error message that reads "Apple Studio Display firmware update could not be completed. Try again in an hour. If the problem persists, contact an authorized Apple service provider." According to users on the thread, reconnecting the display to another Mac and/or restarting the monitor does not address the issue.

Users on the MacRumors Forums are also reporting similar problems, with some being told by Apple Support to bring in their display for repair. Apple's Studio Display does run iOS, and users can update it through System Preferences on macOS.

Following reviews of poor webcam quality, Apple has promised a new update in the future that addresses poor camera quality. That same update could include a patch for the issue being experienced by users when trying to update their Studio Display.