MacRumors

DJI today announced the launch of the Mavic 3, a followup to the company's Mavic 2 drone. DJI says that the Mavic 3 represents the "most comprehensive improvement" to the Mavic lineup in three years, with performance boosts for every function.

A foldable drone like its predecessor, the Mavic 3 features a dual-camera system with a 28x hybrid zoom lens and a 24mm Hasselblad lens with a 4/3 sensor. The Hasselblad lens can capture 20-megapixel still images and 5.1K video at 50 frames per second, or 4K video at 120 frames per second for slow motion footage.

The improved image sensor offers higher video resolution and cuts down on noise in low-light environments, and it has an adjustable aperture of f/2.8 to f/11. The secondary camera has a 162mm telephoto lens with an f/4.4 aperture for zoomed in shots. The Mavic 3 Cine, a version of the Mavic 3 with Apple ProRes 422 HQ encoding, is designed to meet post-production needs and it comes equipped with a 1TB SSD.

There are omnidirectional obstacle sensors with a 200-meter range available on the Mavic 3 that include six fish-eye sensors and two wide-angle sensors to avoid objects even in complicated environments.

There's an upgraded ActiveTrack 5.0 feature for improved tracking, and the Mavic 3 uses a positioning algorithm that incorporates signals from GPS, GLONASS, and BeiDou satellites. An integrated AirSense system warns drone pilots about nearby planes and helicopters, and there are geofencing alerts when near sensitive locations.

Redesigned batteries offer up to 46 minutes of flight time in ideal conditions before a recharge is required thanks to more efficient motors and propellers. The Mavic 3 also produces 35 percent less drag than prior models for faster top speeds. Other new features include a more advanced Return to Home system and an upgraded transmission system for clearer video transmission even in challenging conditions.

There are several new accessories coming out alongside the Mavic 3, including a new smart controller with an extended transmission distance, a 65W portable fast charger, a Convertible Carrying Bag, a Wide-Angle lens with a 108 degree field of view, and more.

DJI selling the Mavic 3 on its website starting today. The standard version is priced at $2,199, while a Fly More Combo with extra accessories and batteries is priced at $2,999. The Mavic 3 Cine Premium Combo with 1TB SSD and Apple ProRes 422 HQ video recording is priced at $4,999.

Apple today sent out an email to Apple Card owners, encouraging them to sign up a family member using the Apple Card Family feature.

New users who join an ‌Apple Card‌ holder's account by November 30, 2021 can receive $10 in Daily Cash after making their first purchase with ‌Apple Card‌ within 30 days of signing up.

Introduced earlier this year, ‌Apple Card‌ Family is designed to allow up to five family members to be added to an ‌Apple Card‌ user's account. ‌Apple Card‌ Family permits one co-owner, who is considered a joint card holder. The co-owner and the main ‌Apple Card‌ user can build credit together, manage the ‌Apple Card‌ account together, and share a combined credit limit.

Children and young adults over the age of 13 can also be added to ‌Apple Card‌ as participants, allowing them to use the ‌Apple Card‌ holder's credit to make purchases. ‌Apple Card‌ owners can set a spending limit for participants, allowing kids to learn about credit without overspending.

More about ‌Apple Card‌ Family is available on the Apple Card website, and new participants can be added on the iPhone by the account holder.

If you're the proud owner of a new MacBook Pro, all things considered, gaming probably wasn't at the top of your priority list when you made the expensive purchase. Even so, when you're not doing resource-hungry work on your new high-end Mac, you can still have some fun with all that power under the hood. Granted, Macs aren't revered for their triple-A games catalog, but there are some popular titles worth firing up on your new machine, and you might just be surprised at how well they play.

The following titles offer a taster of the gaming performance that Apple's latest M1 Pro and M1 Max chips can achieve, in some cases running code that isn't even optimized for Apple silicon. And with a little bit of luck, these impressive results might excite games developers and publishers enough for them to see the potential power of Apple's processors, and for us to see more triple-A titles ported to the Mac platform in future.

1. Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the most high-performing games on Apple's custom chip architecture, despite not being an optimized Mac port that takes advantage of the macOS Metal graphics API. To play the game on Apple silicon, you need to run it through Apple's Rosetta translation layer.

Even so, the ‌M1 Pro‌ and ‌M1 Max‌ chips make light work of processing the complex outdoor environments and large draw distances of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, even when using the "High" graphics preset at 1080p, with the game averaging 50-60 frames per second on a 14-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ with an ‌M1 Pro‌ chip.

As demonstrated by YouTuber MrMacRight, on a 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ with an ‌M1 Max‌ chip, frame rates almost double at the same settings, while at 1140p resolution it's possible to achieve a sustained 50-60fps on the more powerful ‌MacBook Pro‌ chip if you switch the graphics to medium.

2. Metro Exodus

One of the more recent triple-A game ports to macOS, Metro Exodus is one of the most impressive looking first-person shooters currently available on the Mac, and also one of the best performing on Apple silicon.

Even though the game requires Apple's Rosetta translation layer to run, the integrated graphics cores in the ‌M1 Pro‌ and ‌M1 Max‌ chips are well-equipped to deal with the effects-laden game engine, which makes extensive use of light and dark environments to deliver its blend of deadly combat, stealthy exploration, and survival horror. Frame rates average 40-50fps in native 1440p resolution on both chips, and run just shy of 100fps at 1080p.

3. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Another macOS port that is still x86-only and therefore requires Arm translation via Rosetta, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is one of the more demanding games to come over to macOS, and Macs powered by Apple's first-generation M1 chip still struggle to run it at decent graphical settings.

However, with an ‌M1 Max‌ chip, the game can achieve an average of 70-80fps at 1080p resolution on High graphical settings, with an ‌M1 Pro‌ machine hitting around 50-60fps at the same settings. Switch to 1440p resolution and Deus Ex still manages a respectable (and highly playable) 45-55fps on ‌M1 Max‌.

4. A Total War Saga: Troy

Another Feral-developed title, A Total War Saga: Troy is the latest in the Total War RTS series and these games are traditionally considered CPU-intensive because of the sprawling land battles that need to be computed in real time.

Fortunately, Troy runs natively on Apple silicon, and the ‌M1 Max‌ clearly leverages the optimized code and achieves some blistering frame rates. At 1080p on high settings, the game consistently exceeds 100fps, while the ‌M1 Pro‌ manages 60-70fps at the same resolution.

5. Baldur's Gate 3

Role-playing game Baldur's Gate 3 may not be officially released, but an early access version is available, which makes its performance on the latest ‌MacBook Pro‌ models all the more impressive given that the game isn't even finished yet.

Happily, the triple-A title runs natively on Apple silicon, and in 1080p resolution on Ultra settings, both the 14-inch ‌M1 Pro‌ and 16-inch ‌M1 Max‌ consistently hit 90-100fps.

At 1440p resolution, the action still regularly exceeds 100fps on an ‌M1 Max‌ machine where the ‌M1 Pro‌ sometimes flounders, fluctuating between 20-45fps. Even at 4K resolution on the "Ultra" graphics preset, the game stays in the buttery smooth 50-60fps zone on an ‌M1 Max‌ 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌.

Other Titles Worth Considering

These are just some of the Mac games that enjoy increased performance on the new MacBook Pros. Other titles worth checking out include CounterStrike: GO, Hitman, Borderlands 3, and Fortnite.

If you're conversant with CrossOver, the compatibility layer that converts Windows graphics API calls into macOS compatible API calls, we've also heard titles like Witcher 3 and Grand Theft Auto V benefit from the extra graphics cores found in Apple's latest ‌M1 Pro‌ and ‌M1 Max‌ chips.

Have you found a game, new or old, that plays exceptionally well on the new MacBook Pros? Let us know in the comments.

AT&T and Verizon are delaying the rollout of a new 5G band in order to address concerns about interference with aircraft safety systems, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The two companies were set to launch C-Band spectrum on December 5. The C-band covers radio frequencies between 3.7GHz and 4.2GHz, and it is key for the expansion of 5G networks. AT&T and Verizon are now working with the Federal Aviation Administration to ensure there will be no interference, delaying the 5G deployment until January 5.

On Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning [PDF] about potential 5G interference with radar altimeters, technology used measure a plane's distance from the ground. In the document, the FAA confirms that there have not been "proven reports" about equipment interference in countries where the spectrum is already available, but the agency still has concerns.

The FAA is asking radio altimeter manufacturers to submit equipment details on devices that are used in airplanes, and it has suggested that companies who produce radio altimeters do detailed testing to determine if the hardware is susceptible to interference from C-band spectrum. Aircraft manufacturers have been asked to submit data on the radio altimeters that are in use and to do their own interference testing.

The CTIA, a trade group representing the wireless industry, has said that C-band spectrum can be safely used without causing interference to aviation equipment, but aviation groups have said that the 5G expansion could result in "major disruptions to passenger air travel, commercial transport, and critical helicopter operations."

AT&T spokesperson Margeret Boles said in a statement that AT&T plans to work with the FCC and FAA to understand the interference concerns. "It is critical that these discussions be informed by the science and the data," she said. "That is the only path to enabling experts and engineers to assess whether any legitimate coexistence issues exist."

An inability to replace the iPhone 13's display without breaking Face ID could have a major impact on companies that offer ‌iPhone‌ repairs, iFixit said today in an article advocating for Right to Repair laws.

iFixit first pointed out this repair issue in its ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro teardown, and has confirmed it with multiple tests. Replacing the display of the ‌iPhone‌ 13 renders ‌Face ID‌ non-functional, so at-home repairs are not an option. Swapping an ‌iPhone‌ 13's display with a display from a new ‌iPhone‌ 13 results in an error message that says "Unable to activate ‌Face ID‌ on this ‌iPhone‌."

An ‌iPhone‌ display repair, which could previously be done with hand-held tools, now requires a microscope and microsoldering tools or access to Apple's Independent Repair Provider Program, which repair shops have criticized for its "draconian" contracts and requirements.

At issue is a small microcontroller that pairs the ‌iPhone‌ 13 to its display. Apple does not have a tool that allows ‌iPhone‌ owners or repair shops not affiliated with Apple to pair a new screen to an ‌iPhone‌ 13. Authorized technicians who do work with Apple need to use Apple Services Toolkit 2 to log a repair to Apple's cloud services, thereby syncing the serial numbers of the ‌iPhone‌ and the display.

Some repair shops have found a workaround, but it is difficult and work intensive. A soldered chip must be moved from the original screen to the replacement, which iFixit says is "completely unprecedented" as screen repair is "incredibly common" and accounts for a good amount of the revenue that independent repair shops bring in.

iFixit says that Apple's decision to disable ‌Face ID‌ with a screen repair could cause small repair outlets to shut down, spend thousands on new equipment, or lose out on Apple repairs. The site also does not believe that the ‌Face ID‌ repair issue is an accident, as Apple has previously introduced similar repair restrictions for Touch ID, True Tone functionality with display repairs, and ‌iPhone‌ 12 cameras.

Technically, yes: Face ID failure could be a very specific hardware bug for one of the most commonly replaced components, one that somehow made it through testing, didn't get fixed in a major software update, and just happens to lock out the kind of independent repair from which the company doesn't profit.

More likely, though, is that this is a strategy, not an oversight. This situation makes AppleCare all but required for newer iPhones, unless you happen to know that your local repair shop is ready for the challenge. Or you simply plan to never drop your phone.

Other independent repair shops that iFixit spoke to believe that Apple has implemented this change in an effort to "thwart a customer's ability to repair," directing ‌iPhone‌ owners to Apple retail locations or Apple Authorized Service Providers for help with their displays.

With the ‌iPhone‌ 12, camera repairs initially required Apple's proprietary system configuration tool to function properly, and cameras that were replaced were non-functional. Apple addressed this issue with an update that notifies customers that the camera in their device might not be genuine, but doesn't disable it entirely. Apple could do something similar for ‌Face ID‌ in a future update, but it's not clear yet if that will happen.

Customers with an ‌iPhone‌ 13 would be best served by visiting an Apple Authorized Service Provider or an Apple Store for any kind of repair due to the difficulty of display replacements and the potential for ‌Face ID‌ failure. Without AppleCare+, display repairs are expensive, priced between $229 to $329 for Apple's ‌iPhone‌ 13 models.

Apple will no longer require customers to wear a mask to enter many of its retail stores in the United States, reports Bloomberg. Mask mandates will disappear at several stores starting on Friday due to positive trends in vaccinations and declining COVID-19 cases.

More than 100 stores will drop the mask mandate starting Friday, with the policy then expanding to additional stores based on local COVID-19 data. Apple has 270 stores in the United States. Apple shared the new policy with employees in a memo that was obtained by Bloomberg.

After careful review, the Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) team, along with leadership, have determined it's safe to update our guidance on masks for customers in your store. The positive trends in vaccinations, testing, and case counts for your area have made this change possible.

Customers will be able to enter Apple retail locations vaccinated or unvaccinated, and Apple will not require proof of vaccination. In areas like Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area where mask wearing is still mandated, masks will still need to be worn in Apple Stores.

Though Apple is dropping mask mandates for customers in some areas, Apple employees will need to continue to wear masks at this time.

Apple says that it plans to continue to monitor local guidance and COVID data throughout the holiday season, making adjustments as required.

Twelve South today announced the launch of the ActionBand, a new Apple Watch band option created for fitness enthusiasts. The ActionBand is designed for workouts, and it encompasses the Apple Watch in a soft, terry cotton material.

The cotton of the ActionBand is meant to keep the Apple Watch tight on the wrist for heart rate measurements, and it also is sweat absorbent. It is made with lycra, and Twelve South says that it can be worn at the wrist or the forearm.

Twelve South ships the ActionBand with one cuff that's designed for the Apple Watch and one plain cuff for the other wrist for a matching fit. The ActionBand is available as of today and it's priced at $29.99.

Apple has redesigned its Apple ID website, introducing an entirely new look that's much more modern and clean than the prior design that was used.

The Apple ID landing page has been updated with a new dot and Apple logo design, along with information on what the ‌Apple ID‌ website can be used for. The prior design was graphics heavy, featuring a large banner with people using various Apple devices.

Logging in to the ‌Apple ID‌ website presents all of the available ‌Apple ID‌ management options in a card-style view, plus there are navigation options on the left.

The card view offers information at a glance, like your ‌Apple ID‌, your notification email, whether you have two-factor authentication enabled, and the last time that your password was updated. Clicking through the navigation options brings up more info like your name, birthday, reachable email addresses, device list, payment options, and more.

The entire website is simple, responsive, and easy to navigate, and it's quicker than the prior website. The new look is a definite improvement over the previous design for those who need to manage their Apple IDs on the web. The new website design can be found at https://appleid.apple.com/.

The South Korean government recently passed a law that bans Apple and Google from requiring developers to use their in-app purchase systems in the App Store and Google Play respectively, and Google has now announced changes to comply with the law.

In a blog post, Google said it will be giving developers the option to add an alternative in-app billing system alongside the Play Store's billing system for Android smartphone and tablet users in South Korea. Google said the users will be able to choose which billing system to use at checkout, as seen in the example image above, and the company plans to provide developers with more details "in the coming weeks and months."

Google still plans to charge a service fee on in-app purchases completed through an alternative billing system, but it will reduce the fee by four percentage points. For the "vast majority" of developers, this means the fee will drop from 15% for transactions through Google Play's billing system to 11% for transactions through an alternate billing system.

"Like any business, we need to have a sustainable model to continue to improve our products while maintaining important user protections," said Google, in explaining why it charges a service fee on the Google Play store. "Just as it costs developers money to build an app, it costs us money to build and maintain an operating system and app store that makes those apps easily and safely accessible by consumers."

Google also warned that alternative billing systems may not offer the same security and privacy protections as Google Play's billing system.

Apple meanwhile has yet to make any changes to App Store billing in South Korea. The company previously said the law "will put users who purchase digital goods from other sources at risk of fraud, undermine their privacy protections, [and] make it difficult to manage their purchases," while making parental controls less effective.

In October, Apple told the South Korean government that it was "already in compliance with the new law and did not need to change its app store policy," according to Reuters. We've reached out to Apple for comment and we'll update this story if we hear back.

Amazon today has Apple's 16-inch MacBook Pro (10-Core M1 Pro, 512GB) for $2,449.99, down from $2,499.00. This remains the lowest price we've tracked on this model, and as of writing Amazon is the only major Apple reseller offering this discount.

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.

Only the Silver color option is available at this price, and it's being shipped and sold directly from Amazon.

There are a few other new MacBook Pros being discounted on Amazon, but you'll find delayed shipping estimates for most. The 14-inch MacBook Pro (8-Core M1 Pro, 512GB) is available for $1,949.99, down from $1,999.00, but it won't ship until late November. The same estimate can be found for the 1TB 16-inch model.

This will likely continue to be a trend as we head further into the holiday season, as Apple's own website has most models of the 2021 MacBook Pro shipping in late November and early December. If you're looking at these for holiday presents, the earlier you order the more you'll ensure a timely delivery.

You can find even more discounts on other MacBooks by visiting our Best Deals guide for MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. In this guide we track the steepest discounts for the newest MacBook models every week, so be sure to bookmark it and check back often if you're shopping for a new Apple notebook.

Earlier this week, robotics student Ken Pillonel shared a video explaining how he modded an iPhone X with a functional USB-C port in place of the usual Lightning connector. The USB-C port works for both charging the iPhone and data transfer.

Pillonel also put the device up for auction on eBay, and bids are already topping a whopping $99,000. The listing describes the device as "the world's first USB-C iPhone" and a "true piece of collection for any Apple fanboy out there."

Bids are being accepted until November 11, with estimated delivery by late December. Pillonel said anyone who bids on the iPhone X agrees that they will not restore, update, or erase the device, will not open the device, and will not use it as their daily device. He also cautions that the modded iPhone X is "just a prototype."

The winning bidder will receive the iPhone X with 64GB of storage in its box, without any accessories included. Pillonel is also offering a 30-minute phone call with the winning bidder should they have any questions about the device.

While many have called on Apple to add a USB-C port to the iPhone, the device continues to use Apple's proprietary Lightning connector. Apple has adopted USB-C for some iPad models over the years, including the new iPad mini released in September.

This story will be updated periodically as the highest bid increases.

(Thanks, Martin Nobel!)

A new rumor claims that Apple is working on a future 8.3-inch iPad mini that will feature a ProMotion display, allowing for a higher 120Hz variable refresh rate, compared to the current 60Hz offered on the smallest iPad.

This past fall, Apple updated the ‌iPad mini‌, completely redesigning the smallest ‌iPad‌ and introducing an edge-to-edge display, Touch ID in the power button, an A15 Bionic chip, a USB-C port, and other features that brought it to parity with the rest of Apple's tablet lineup.

However, the ‌iPad mini‌ 6's display has faced some criticism for the "jelly scrolling" effect which is evident to some users when reading on the device in portrait mode. Since LCD screens refresh line by line, there is a tiny delay between when the lines at the top and lines at the bottom are refreshed. While this is normal behavior for LCD screens, it can appear more obvious when observed on the ‌iPad mini‌.

Today's rumor posted on a Korean forum and shared on Twitter by @FronTron, claims Apple is testing a Samsung-supplied display for a future ‌iPad mini‌ in the same 8.3-inch factor that will support ProMotion technology.

ProMotion is Apple's variable refresh rate display technology that allows a display to run at as high as 120Hz. The feature is currently only offered on the 11-inch and 12.9-inch ‌iPad‌ Pros, and just recently, the iPhone 13 Pro and the new MacBook Pros.

The notion that Apple would bring a feature exclusive to its higher-end devices to its smallest ‌‌iPad‌,‌ which is designed for portability and everyday use, may seem unlikely, but it does become more plausible if the "jelly scrolling" issue is taken into consideration.

The reason the jelly scrolling effect only occurs when the tablet is in portrait mode is because the controller board that drives the line-by-line refresh of the display is oriented vertically, and the portrait orientation doesn't match its placement.

Indeed, the iPad Pro also has a vertically oriented display controller board. However, while jelly scrolling still happens on the high-end ‌iPad‌ in portrait mode, the Pro's 120Hz refresh rate all but masks it to most human eyes. All of which is to say that if Apple brought ProMotion to the ‌iPad mini‌, it would essentially resolve the jelly scrolling issue.

That said, the source of this rumor remains unknown and we are therefore still filing it under "sketchy."

The 8.3-inch ‌iPad mini‌ is one of four ‌iPad‌ models in the ‌iPad‌ lineup and is the ideal option for customers wanting a small, compact, and powerful tablet for casual use. Customers undertaking more intensive work, requiring more performance, are likely to purchase the ‌iPad Pro‌ instead, with education students eyeing the baseline ‌iPad‌ or the iPad Air.

Jony Ive's design firm LoveFrom has created a special award that's meant to be bestowed on companies that are leaders in creating sustainable markets, reports Wallpaper.

The "Terra Carta Seal" designed by LoveFrom was made in partnership with the Sustainable Markets Initiative headed by the UK's Prince Charles. The Terra Carta is a charter that provides a roadmap for businesses to build a sustainable future by harnessing the power of Nature.

Ive's Terra Carta Seal is meant to embody the Terra Carta values, which includes reuniting "people and planet, by giving fundamental rights and value to Nature." The design features oak leaves, acorns, ferns, magnolia flowers, and phlox, along with various birds, butterflies, and bees.

The Seal also has wording that uses a special LoveFrom Serif font that is not commercially available and was made exclusively for LoveFrom projects. Ive said that the typeface was designed for LoveFrom's "friends," but that it worked well for the Terra Carta. There are digital versions of the seal, along with a paper version.

"We spent all this time creating a typeface that we would use for our identity: we didn't want a logo, we wanted something far more modest, more similar to a dialogue," says Ive of creating the LoveFrom Serif, inspired by John Baskerville's letterforms and based on studies of his original punches and matrices. "We thought we would use this typeface for our friends; we couldn't think of a better way to take advantage of a few years of work around the Terra Carta, and I think it works really quite well. You can see the typography is clearly central to the seal, but I was seduced by the gentle, slightly anarchic dominance of the natural references."

Other inspirations included the sacred geometry of nature and works from William Morris, Josef Frank, Nick Knight, and Christopher Marley. "We have reinforced the resilience and fertility of nature by allowing these natural elements to gently take control of the image," Ive told Wallpaper. "This is a visually lush celebration of the power of nature, and far from being superficial decoration, these natural forms are what gives the design life."

Ive said that he is designing at LoveFrom the way he designed at Apple.

"For decades at Apple, one of my preoccupations has been this idea that if we have discipline in our thinking practice we hold ourselves accountable with our thinking, and the result is that we can be light with our implementation. This really has become such a central part to the way that we see problems and the way that we practice."

L'Oreal, Siemens Energy, and AstraZeneca have been awarded the inaugural Terra Carta Seal for committing to accelerated actions to limit global warming to to 1.5°C by 2050. The Terra Carta Seal will be awarded to different companies on an annual basis.

Ive departed from Apple in 2019 to found LoveFrom alongside fellow designer Marc Newson. At the time, Apple said that Ive would continue to be involved in design at Apple and that it would be one of LoveFrom's primary clients. LoveFrom has also worked with Airbnb and Ferrari.

Now that the new MacBook Pro models have been available for a week, we've been able to do more in-depth testing. In our latest YouTube video, we pit the entry-level 14-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ with an M1 Pro chip against the high-end 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ with an M1 Max chip to see just what you're getting with the upgrade to the ‌M1 Max‌.

Priced at $1,999, the base 14-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ features an ‌M1 Pro‌ chip with an 8-core CPU, a 14-core GPU, 16GB unified memory, and a 512GB SSD. The $3,499 high-end 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ we compared it to in this video has an ‌M1 Max‌ chip with 10-core CPU, 32-core GPU, 32GB unified memory, and 1TB SSD. The two machines represent the most affordable and the most expensive stock ‌MacBook Pro‌ models that don't take into account upgrade options.

In our testing, the ‌M1 Max‌ unsurprisingly outperformed the lower-end ‌M1 Pro‌ chip, but what was a bit of a surprise was how well even the base ‌M1 Pro‌ chip did in our tests.

In Final Cut Pro, a video export test saw the ‌M1 Max‌ machine export a 6-minute 4K video in one minute and 49 seconds, a task that took the ‌M1 Pro‌ 2 minute and 55 seconds. When it comes to 8K RAW footage, both machines were able to handle the load. The ‌M1 Max‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌ performed close to flawlessly, while the ‌M1 Pro‌ had a few issues with dropped frames and stuttering, but was ultimately able to keep up.

For comparison's sake, the 2017 Mac Pro that we have is not able to handle 8K footage as well as the base model 14-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ with ‌M1 Pro‌ chip. The ‌M1 Max‌ ultimately did better with our Final Cut Pro testing because of the 32 GPU cores, but the ‌M1 Pro‌ machine offered impressive performance.

In a Blender test, a complicated image of a classroom was rendered in just 8 minutes and 23 seconds on the ‌M1 Max‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌, a process that took the ‌M1 Pro‌ ‌MacBook Pro‌ 10 minutes and 58 seconds.

We tested the memory in both machines by opening up a series of apps that one might use in a video editing workflow, like Final Cut Pro, Lightroom, Chrome, Safari, Music, and a few others, and there were zero performance hiccups across either ‌MacBook Pro‌ model. Intel machines with 16GB RAM often see issues with this same setup, so again, even the low-end ‌MacBook Pro‌ is doing well here. Both the 512GB SSD in the base model and the 1TB SSD in the 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ performed about the same, with a 128GB file transferring from an external SSD to an internal SSD in 44 and 43 seconds, respectively.

As for straight Geekbench numbers, the ‌MacBook Pro‌ with ‌M1 Max‌ earned a single-core score of 1781 and a multi-core score of 12785, while the ‌MacBook Pro‌ with base ‌M1 Pro‌ chip earned a single-core score of 1666 and a multi-core score of 9924. Metal scores came in at 38138 for the ‌M1 Pro‌ and 64134 for the ‌M1 Max‌.

You're going to want to watch our full video for the complete performance comparison as we also did some other tests on the two machines. All in all, if you have a workflow where seconds matter, like exporting video or working with large 3D files, you're going to save time with the ‌M1 Max‌, but the ‌M1 Pro‌, even the base model, is still a very capable machine.

Apple's iCloud Private Relay option is not working for some users, according to Apple's System Status page. The feature is experiencing an outage and is unavailable at the current time.

According to Apple, the outage started at 11:40 a.m. Pacific Time and it is ongoing. Those who are having ‌iCloud‌ Private Relay issues may have received a notification letting them know that the feature is currently down, but will be re-enabled when it's back up and working.

On Apple devices, going to the ‌iCloud‌ Private Relay setting shows that it is temporarily unavailable due to a technical problem.

‌iCloud‌ Private Relay is an Apple service that ensures Safari traffic leaving an iPhone, iPad, or Mac is encrypted. It uses two separate internet relays to ensure that companies cannot access personal information like IP address, location, and browsing information to create a detailed profile about you.

‌iCloud‌ Private Relay is accessible to anyone with a paid ‌iCloud‌ account, priced starting at $0.99 per month.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg today announced changes to Facebook's "Subscriptions" tool, which will see Facebook testing Apple's App Store guidelines in an effort to secure more money for content creators.

With Subscriptions, content creators can allow their fans to sign up to pay them a monthly subscription fee, similar to Patreon. Going forward, Facebook is implementing a "promotional link" in the Facebook app for iOS that will allow Facebook users to subscribe to content creators without using Apple's in-app purchase system.

Zuckerberg said that Facebook wants to unlock "opportunities for creators to make more money" as it builds for the metaverse, and "the 30% fees that Apple takes on transactions make it harder to do that."

Facebook plans to offer the "promotional link" alongside in-app purchase options for subscriptions, and when people subscribe to creators using the Facebook link, creators are able to keep all of the money they earn without providing a 30 percent cut to Apple. From a blog post explaining the feature:

Earlier this year, as part of our commitment to supporting creators, we shared that Facebook would not collect any fees from creators on Subscriptions purchases until 2023, at the earliest. Creators, however, must still forfeit 15-30% of their earnings to companies like Apple whenever people purchase Subscriptions within the Facebook app on mobile devices. For recurring payments like subscriptions, this adds up quickly since that fee is paid every single month.

Starting today, we're offering creators the ability to direct people to a website to complete their Subscriptions purchase using Facebook Pay. When people purchase Subscriptions from this website on web or mobile, creators will be able to keep 100% of the money they earn, excluding taxes. Creators can find their personalized promotional link in Creator Studio, which they can share with their audiences, including over email or text.

It is unclear if Facebook's new Subscriptions payment alternative is entirely in line with Apple's App Store guidelines, but a Facebook spokesperson told The Verge that Facebook believes the approach that it's offering has "always been allowed on iOS."

Apple does not allow apps to offer alternative payment options for digital goods at the time, but Facebook is skirting this rule because creators are having people pay via the web, not Facebook, so it's a something of a gray area.

Facebook is also launching a bonus program to pay creators for each new subscriber added through the custom web link to encourage creators to sign up, and it is providing tools that will show creators how much of their earnings are going to fees from Apple and Google.

Apple recently made changes to its ‌App Store‌ rules that will see "reader" apps allowed to offer links for account signups outside of the ‌App Store‌ and that will allow developers to use communication methods like email to tell customers about alternative payment options. Apple may also be forced to implement further changes that would allow all developers to offer alternate payment links as a result of a ruling in the ongoing Epic v. Apple legal battle.

Apple today informed developers that they can invite people to try out early versions of Mac apps prior to release using the TestFlight platform, marking the end of a beta test that's been ongoing since August.

Mac app developers can invite up to 10,000 external testers through email or a public link, plus there are tools for creating multiple groups of internal testers and configuring build access for each one.

TestFlight has been available in a beta capacity for several months now, with developers able to use the app to test their own apps and apps from other developers. With the official launch of the feature, developers can also send the TestFlight betas to members of the general public. To test apps, testers will need to download the TestFlight app from the Mac App Store. [Direct Link]

The Apple Watch Series 7 comes in new 41mm and 45mm size options and it has the largest display of any Apple Watch to date, a design challenge that Apple executives called "unique" in an interview with The Independent.

Implementing the new design without major increases to the casing size required "completely re-engineering the display, the front crystal, the internals and the internal enclosure," according to Apple's vice president of product marketing, Stan Ng.

Apple was able to reduce the borders on the Series 7 to 1.7mm, down from 3mm in the Series 6, and it's a noticeable change. The Apple Watch Series 7's launch was delayed until October after its September introduction, and rumors suggested that was due to the complicated design necessitated by the updated display.

The size increase was implemented only because Apple found a way to do it without compromising on other Apple Watch features. The touch sensor was integrated into the OLED panel, which kept the height of the Apple Watch the same and the general case size consistent.

"The re-engineered display on Series 7 is a major technical innovation. Growing the display is such a huge benefit to users, but only if it doesn't compromise any other part of the experience, such as comfort or aesthetics or battery life or band compatibility."

Apple's vice president of interface design, Alan Dye, said the company's goal with the update was to "make the user experience more clear and more accessible." The size increase required Apple to make hundreds of small UI changes.

"We knew this was an opportunity to optimize the design of the entire experience. So, we went about over the past couple of years reconsidering and recrafting every element, making hundreds of really small but we think important and impactful changes to make the UI to work in harmony with the new display design and making the UI even easier to use."

Text input on the Apple Watch has always been "a huge challenge," according to Dye, so the QWERTY keyboard that was implemented with the larger display was an achievement. Dye says that Apple always wanted a QWERTY keyboard. The bezels around the keys were removed to make it feel less cramped, a move that also conveys to customers that "precision isn't critical" because the keyboard uses machine learning to correct what you want to type.

Going forward, Apple plans to continue to innovate on the Apple Watch user experience, the information that's displayed, and cutting down on wasted space.

The full interview, which goes into more detail on design decisions like the new Apple Watch faces and Apple's obsession with typography, can be read over at The Independent.