MacRumors

Amazon today held a media event that saw the introduction of a slew of new products, ranging from an in-home Alexa robot to a new fitness service that mimics Apple Fitness+. We've rounded up all of Amazon's most interesting announcements below.

Astro Household Robot

Astro is an Alexa-integrated home robot that can monitor the home, help users keep in touch with family, and more. Astro can move around the home, check on specific areas, and show a live view of rooms when the homeowner is away, plus it can be used to remotely care for elderly relatives.

Astro integrates with Ring and can autonomously patrol the home with the Ring Protect Pro service, and it has full Alexa functionality. Astro also has a personality that makes it "feel like part of the family."

Amazon will be shipping out Astro later this year, and it will be priced at $1450. Amazon will have introductory pricing of $1,000 as part of the Day 1 Editions program.

Echo Show 15

The Echo Show 15, which is designed to serve as a central communications and entertainment hub for a family, features a 15.6-inch display and it can be mounted on a wall or set on a counter.

Amazon's Echo Show is equipped with Amazon's AZ2 Neural Edge processor, which Amazon says performs 22x more trillions of operations per second. It also runs ML-based speech models faster than the original AZ1.

The Echo Show has built-in Alexa widgets, visual ID so what's shown on the screen can be customized for each person, and integration with smart home products. It also supports 1080p video streaming and integrates with Amazon services like Audible and Amazon Photos. The Echo Show is priced at $250.

Hey Disney

Amazon is partnering with Disney for a new "Hey Disney" voice assistant that will let kids and adults use an Echo device to interact with characters from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and more.

Hey Disney will offer interactive Disney entertainment and storytelling, in addition to jokes, fun facts, and more. Walt Disney World Resort hotel rooms will have integrated Echo devices with the Hey Disney functionality.

Amazon Glow

Designed for children, Amazon Glow is a projector-based interactive device that provides activities for children to do on video calls with relatives and friends. Through Amazon Glow, children and their families can remotely read stories, play games, create art, and more. Glow is priced at $250.

Ring Always Home Cam

Amazon last year debuted its $250 Always Home Cam, which is a drone-based security system that can fly to different places in the house from a home dock, and Amazon showed it off again at today's event because there's now an open invite list for those who want to buy an Always Home Cam.

Ring Alarm Pro

Ring Alarm Pro is designed to serve as a smart home hub with built-in Eero WiFi router functionality. It connects to Ring cameras that are in the home to store Ring video footage locally, and it integrates with third-party products like door locks, smoke alarms, and more. Ring Alarm Pro is priced at $250.

Amazon also announced the Ring Virtual Security Guard, a subscription service that allows customers to pay $99 a month to have a professional security company "visually monitor" their Ring cameras.

Halo View and Halo Fitness

The Halo View a new wrist-worn device with an AMOLED display that offers up health metrics, live workout tracking, and more. Halo View is priced at $80. The Halo View is a follow up to the original wrist-worn Halo Band, which has been criticized for its invasiveness and lack of privacy features.

To go along with the Halo View, Amazon has announced a new Halo Fitness service, which is almost identical to Apple Fitness+. Halo Fitness offers hundreds of studio-quality workouts that are led by industry experts and that integrate with Halo hardware.

There's also a Halo Nutrition program that includes a meal planner to allow users to plan out healthy meals, plus it connects with the Alexa Shopping list to add ingredients to one central spot.

Alexa Together

Alexa Together is a subscription service that's designed to help aging family members feel more comfortable living alone while also giving their families access to check in on them. Alexa Together includes a 24/7 Urgent Response option that connects to emergency services, and Remote Assist lets family members manage caregiving from afar. Alexa Together is priced at $19.99 per month.

Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 15.1 and iPadOS 15.1 betas to developers for testing purposes, one week after seeding the first betas and just over a week after releasing iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 to the public.

iOS and iPadOS 15.1 can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or over the air after the proper profile has been installed on an iPhone or iPad.

SharePlay makes a return in iOS 15.1, with Apple once again testing the feature that was removed before the launch of iOS 15. SharePlay is designed to let users call their friends and family and interact by watching movies, watching TV, or listening to music together.

Apple has added features like shared playlists and TV show syncing so everyone sees the same thing at the same time. SharePlay also has a built-in screen sharing feature, and Apple is still working out the bugs.

Paired with the HomePod 15.1 beta (which is invite only), iOS 15.1 adds Lossless Audio and Dolby Atmos with Spatial Audio support to the ‌HomePod‌ and the HomePod mini, bringing Apple's speakers in line with iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

‌iPhone‌ users who have a health care provider or state record that uses SMART Health Cards can import their COVID-19 vaccination records into the Health app and can then add a vaccine card to the Wallet app. This is an opt-in feature that uses a global specification, but healthcare providers need to implement it.

Right now, Smart Health Cards are or will be available to those in California, Louisiana, New York, Virginia, Hawaii, and some Maryland counties, as well those who were vaccinated at Walmart, Sam's Club, and CVS Health. Healthcare providers like electronic health record vendors like Epic and Cerner also support Smart Health Cards.

There were no other features of note that were found in the first iOS 15.1 beta, but we'll update this article should new features be found in the second beta.

Apple today seeded the second beta of an upcoming watchOS 8.1 beta to developers for testing purposes, with the update coming one week after the release of the first beta and a week after the release of the watchOS 8 update.

To install ‌‌‌watchOS 8.1‌‌‌, developers will need to download the configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once installed, ‌‌‌watchOS 8‌‌‌ can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software update.

To update to new software, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery life, it must be placed on the charger, and it needs to be in range of the ‌‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌‌.

We don't yet know what's new in watchOS 8 and there were no new features found in the first beta, but we'll update this article should anything new pop up in the second beta.

Microsoft today announced that it is opening up the Microsoft Store for Windows to third-party storefront apps, including the Epic Games Store and the Amazon Appstore. Epic and Amazon's stores will be discoverable on the Microsoft Store for Windows and can be downloaded like any other app.

As a reason for the change, Microsoft said that it wants to ensure that its "business terms are fair" and also to "help promote innovation."

Our commitment to being an 'open Store for an open platform' isn't just about the various technical underpinnings of how apps are built. It's also about making sure our business terms are fair and help promote innovation. For instance, the Microsoft Store on Windows no longer requires app developers to share revenue with Microsoft, when apps manage their own in-app payment systems.

In that spirit, today we're announcing another significant update to our Microsoft Store on Windows policies, which will allow third-party storefront apps to be discoverable in the Microsoft Store on Windows.

Support for third-party app store options is what ‌Epic Games‌ has been pushing for in its ongoing legal battle with Apple, but Apple has no intention of implementing support for such a feature. Apple has argued that third-party app stores or sideloading apps would compromise the privacy and security of iOS devices.

Two major Apple competitors, Google and Microsoft, now support alternate app installation options on their platforms, something that could potentially sway regulators working on antitrust legislation in the United States and other countries.

‌Epic Games‌ was not successful in its efforts to convince the court that Apple needs to be forced to allow alternate app stores, and ‌Epic Games‌ is now appealing the ruling in the Epic v. Apple lawsuit. There was one win to come out of the dispute, though, with the judge ruling that Apple must allow developers to offer a button or a link to their websites where non-in-app purchase payment options are available.

Microsoft has been involved in the ongoing antitrust investigations that Apple and Google are facing in the United States, but not on the side of the tech companies. Microsoft president Brad Smith said in June that it's time for regulators to investigate App Stores.

Back in 1999, Microsoft lost an antitrust case and was accused of maintaining a monopoly in the PC market. Microsoft was forced to submit to oversight and was required to share its APIs with third-party companies.

Apple today announced updates to its iWork suite of apps with new features, including some that are limited to iOS 15 and macOS Monterey. This includes updates to the Pages, Numbers, and Keynote apps across the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Apple says Keynote now offers an option to show a live camera view of the presenter directly in slides across the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. In addition, Pages now automatically displays text and images in a single-column flow that is optimized for the iPhone, and Numbers introduces pivot tables for data analytics across the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

The latest versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for Mac let you instantly translate selected text in up to 11 languages and add the translation to your document, spreadsheet, or presentation with a single click. This feature requires a Mac running macOS Monterey, which is currently in beta and will be released later this year.

The new iWork apps for Mac also include the redesigned icons we first spotted in a macOS Monterey beta last month.

The full release notes for Pages version 11.2 for macOS:

• Improved book publishing with 2-page spreads, optimized images, and more flexible versioning
• Flexible collaboration allows participants to add others to a shared document*
• Instant translation lets you translate selected text in up to 11 languages and add the translation to your document with a click*
• Create new documents from the app icon in the Dock
• Radar charts help you visually compare multiple variables at once to easily show similarities and differences in your data
* Requires macOS Monterey

iOS 15 introduced cross-app drag and drop, allowing users to drag and drop images, text, files, and more between apps on the iPhone, and this functionality is fully supported by the latest versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for iOS.

The updates are currently rolling out on the App Store and the Mac App Store, complete with full release notes for the other apps.

Following the launch of the iPhone 13 models, Apple's vice president of camera hardware engineering Graham Townsend and vice president of camera software engineering Jon McCormack spoke with British GQ's Robert Leedham about iPhone cameras.

Townsend revealed that Apple starts planning future iPhone camera systems about three years in advance of public availability, suggesting that the company began developing the camera systems on the iPhone 13 models as early as 2018.

"The planning has to start about three years ahead, because that's when we actually fix the specification of the silicon," says Townsend. "So, for instance, the sensor gets defined at that point and the A15 Bionic processor is also frozen. That's when we have to begin to talk with Jon and predict the experiences that we want. Obviously when we designed the new ultra-wide lens, we were going to deliver macro photos. But how is that going to work both in stills and video?"

All four iPhone 13 models feature a new Cinematic mode that lets users record video with a shallow depth of field and automatic focus changes between subjects, and McCormack reflected on the challenges of developing this feature.

"It was a long process with lots of windy roads, but like most profound things it takes a while," says McCormack. "We're not just looking at the depth of every single frame, but there's also this thing called temporal stability: as we move between frames with people moving, how do we make sure you don't end up with weird edges and stuff like that?"

The interview goes on to discuss Apple's environmental responsibility and emphasizes how far the iPhone camera has come over the years.

"We're not asking for the impossible, but we are asking that the camera achieves the best it can every year," says Townsend. "Over the past ten years we've seen a dramatic improvement, but there is no rest."

Townsend and McCormack also spoke with CNN Underscored's Jacob Krol, touching on the simplicity that Apple aims for with the iPhone camera:

"Long before you even hit the shutter, you just bring the camera up, we're looking at auto exposure, white balance, autofocus to make sure that we're getting all of the right information, raw information captured," Jon McCormack, VP of camera software engineering at Apple, tells us.

The Stalman Podcast also shared an interview with Townsend and McCormack.

In a new blog post titled "Bring the best of Google to your iPhone," Google is on an endeavor to convince new ‌iPhone‌ 13 users to transform their ‌device’s home screen to look like Android.

The blog post, written by Google's director for the iOS platform, features screenshots of an ‌iPhone‌ 13 home screen filled with Google apps and widgets. The post implies that customers should possibly consider replacing some of Apple's default iOS apps, such as Photos, Safari, Calendar, Reminders, and even Phone, with Google's equivalent of those apps, including Google ‌Photos‌, Google Chrome, Google Calendar, Google Tasks, and Google Voice, respectively.

Google continued to encourage customers to utilize the wide variety of widgets its iOS apps offer. Google said that if the right Google widgets are placed on the home screen, users will "never even have to leave" their home screens to stay caught up.

According to the blog post, users can also use "Smart Stacks" to stack different Google widgets on top of each other, allowing iOS to determine which widget is most relevant to show at any one time.

Finally, Google recommends that users replace Safari with Google Chrome as the default iOS browser, allowing all system-wide links and Spotlight web suggestions to open in Chrome. Google closed by saying it hopes ‌iPhone‌ 13 users, who just started receiving their new iPhones last week, will consider bringing "the best of Google" to their device instead of just simply purchasing an Android smartphone or device.

macOS Monterey is set to be released later this year with Safari 15, with key new features including redesigned tabs, grouped tabs, automatic switching of sites from HTTP to more secure HTTPS when available, faster performance, improved security, and more. Apple also released Safari 15 for macOS Big Sur and macOS Catalina last week.

Unfortunately, some customers have experienced a few issues with Safari 15, which we've highlighted in more detail below.

YouTube Bookmarking Issue

On both macOS Big Sur and the macOS Monterey beta, it appears that attempting to bookmark a YouTube page in Safari 15 results in the browser crashing.

The issue was demonstrated with a video shared by YouTube channel Krazy Wabbit. As a temporary workaround, the video notes that users can create a bookmarks folder for YouTube videos and then drag YouTube pages into the folder in the Safari sidebar.

Page Loading Issue on macOS Catalina

On macOS Catalina, some users across the Apple Support Communities, MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and Twitter have reported that some websites fail to load in Safari 15, with affected users receiving an "a problem repeatedly occurred" error message.

Affected users said that disabling JavaScript solves the problem by clicking on Safari in the macOS menu bar > Preferences… > Security and unchecking the Enable JavaScript box, but this is not an ideal solution. Fortunately, it appears that users can permanently address the issue by reinstalling Safari 15 with a package from Apple's servers. (Note that this update is only for users on macOS Catalina and it should not be installed on other operating system versions.)

Apple today increased the price of its Beats Flex headphones from $49.99 to $69.99, a pricing shift that may be related to supply chain constraints that have raised the costs of components across the industry.

First released last October, the Beats Flex made headlines at launch because of their low price compared to other Apple headphone options, and they have been a popular purchase option since. The Beats Flex are a follow-up to the BeatsX, and feature an in-ear design with a wire between the left and right earbuds.

Given their low price, the Beats Flex may have been more susceptible to cost pressures than some other Apple products. At $20 more expensive, the Beats Flex are still a very affordable option to get into the Apple headphone ecosystem, but it's not quite as impressive a deal as before. They come in Black, Flame Blue, Yuzu Yellow, and Smoke Gray, and offer much of the same seamless connectivity functionality available with Apple's more expensive Beats options.

Auto-play/pause is included, and the Beats Flex last for up to 12 hours without needing to be recharged. There's a Fast Fuel charging option that offers 1.5 hours of playback, and they feature Find My integration.

The pricing change of the Beats Flex was first noticed by Twitter user Pedro Henrique and was highlighted by 9to5Mac. The Beats Flex can be purchased from the Apple Store, but Amazon currently has them on sale for as low as $37, so those considering a purchase should buy them on Amazon before prices go up.

In 2021, Apple introduced the sixth-generation iPad mini, featuring a complete redesign, a larger display, the A15 Bionic chip, and more. The ‌iPad mini‌ now effectively shares the design of the fourth-generation iPad Air from 2020, with both devices possessing many of the same features such as an all-screen design with no Home button, Touch ID in the top power button, and stereo speakers.

Since the ‌iPad Air‌ was released in September 2020, should you buy the now-discontinued, bigger-screened ‌iPad Air‌, or opt for the new ‌iPad mini‌? Our guide answers the question of how to decide which of these two iPads is best for you.

Comparing the iPad mini and iPad Air

The ‌iPad mini‌ and ‌iPad Air‌ share a large number of key features, such as design, a rear 12MP Wide camera, and a USB-C port:

Similarities

• All-screen industrial design with flat edges
• ‌Touch ID‌ scanner built into the top button
• Liquid Retina display with P3 wide color, fingerprint resistant coating, 500 nits max brightness, full lamination, anti-reflective coating, and True Tone
• A-Series Bionic chip with 64-bit desktop-class architecture, 4GB of memory, and Neural Engine
• 12MP ƒ/1.8 Wide rear camera with 5x digital zoom and Smart HDR 3
• 4K video recording at up to 60fps with 3x video zoom, 1080p slo-mo video at 120fps or 240fps, and time-lapse with stablilization
• Front-facing camera with Retina Flash, Smart HDR 3, cinematic video stabilization and 1080p video recording
• Second-generation Apple Pencil compatibility
• Up to 10 hours of battery life
• USB-C port
• Two speaker audio landscape mode
• Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0
• Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + Cellular models
• 64GB and 256GB storage options

Apple's specification breakdown shows that the two iPads share many of their most important features. Even so, there are a large number of meaningful differences between the ‌iPad mini‌ and ‌iPad Air‌ that are worth highlighting, including their A-series chips, front-facing cameras, keyboard compatibility, and more.

Differences

Read on for a closer look at each of these aspects, and see what exactly both iPads have to offer.

Design and Size

Size is the most obvious difference between the ‌iPad mini‌ and ‌iPad Air‌, with the ‌iPad mini‌ being 52.2mm shorter and 43.7mm narrower than the ‌iPad Air‌. This makes it possible for most people to hold the ‌iPad mini‌ from edge to edge in one hand. It is also 163 grams (0.36 pounds) lighter than the ‌iPad Air‌.

The compact form factor and low weight of the ‌iPad mini‌ make it much more portable than the ‌iPad Air‌, being far easier to fit in a small bag or even a large pocket and use on the go. Though the ‌iPad Air‌ is still thin and light to carry around, it simply is not as convenient to use on the go as the ‌iPad mini‌, which is a device that pushes iPad portability to the extreme.

Users may feel more comfortable walking around with the ‌iPad mini‌ and using it discreetly in public spaces than the ‌iPad Air‌, and it is also a great size for kids. Preference for one size or the other ultimately comes down to your personal use case.

Both devices feature the same squared-off industrial design language that has become the norm on a range of iPhone, ‌iPad‌, and Mac devices, which makes them easier to grip and pick up off a surface.

The ‌iPad mini‌ and ‌iPad Air‌ are available in a range of different color options. The ‌iPad mini‌ is available in Space Gray, Pink, Purple, and Starlight, while the ‌iPad Air‌ is available in Silver, Space Gray, Rose Gold, Green, and Sky Blue. If you have your heart set on a particular color, you will need to bear in mind that the color offerings are different across both devices with the exception of Space Gray.

Display

The ‌iPad mini‌ and ‌iPad Air‌ feature the same Liquid Retina display with P3 wide color, a fingerprint-resistant coating, 500 nits of maximum brightness, full lamination, an anti-reflective coating, and True Tone. As with design, the difference between the two displays comes down to size.

The ‌iPad mini‌ features an 8.3-inch display, while the ‌iPad Air‌ has a larger, 10.9-inch display. This means that the ‌iPad mini‌'s display is 2.6-inches smaller diagonally, which translates to an almost 45% reduction in total screen area. The higher pixel density of the ‌iPad mini‌ does compensate somewhat, however.

Both devices have slim bezels around the display for an all-screen look. The bezels are the same size on both devices, which makes them more pronounced relative to the ‌iPad mini‌'s smaller display.

The ‌iPad mini‌'s smaller display may feel more cramped than on the ‌iPad Air‌, with smaller touch targets and more limited multitasking options. For example, the keyboard takes up most of the display in landscape, using apps in split view makes them very small, and app icons are smaller than they are on the ‌iPad Air‌.

Even so, the ‌iPad mini‌'s smaller display may be more comfortable for reading or playing handheld games. The ‌iPad Air‌'s larger, 10.9-inch display is much more suited to productivity, multitasking, and watching videos, with considerably more screen space to fit app windows, UI elements, and more.

A14 Bionic vs. A15 Bionic Chip

The ‌iPad mini‌ features Apple's A15 Bionic, the chip used in the ‌iPhone‌ 13 and ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro. On the other hand, the ‌iPad Air‌ uses the A14 Bionic chip from the ‌iPhone‌ 12 and ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro.

The A15 in the ‌iPad mini‌ is downclocked to 2.9GHz, compared to 3.2GHz in all of the ‌iPhone‌ 13 models, which has a small two to eight percent impact on performance compared to those devices.

Early benchmarks show that the A15 is around 10 percent faster in single-core tasks, 20 percent faster in multicore tasks, and 15 percent faster graphics than the A14. This is more of an iterative improvement, so while the A15 in the ‌iPad mini‌ does offer better performance than the ‌iPad Air‌ and it will be more futureproof with a newer chip, it is a marginal improvement that is unlikely to have a strong bearing on which device you should buy.

Cameras

Rear Cameras

Both the ‌iPad mini‌ and the ‌iPad Air‌ feature a 12MP ƒ/1.8 Wide rear camera with 5x digital zoom and Smart HDR 3, but the ‌iPad mini‌ features extended dynamic range and is able to record 1080p video at a range of framerates, rather than just at 60fps on the ‌iPad Air‌. The ‌iPad mini‌ also adds a rear Quad-LED True Tone flash.

The ‌iPad mini‌'s rear camera is slightly more capable than that of the ‌iPad Air‌, the True Tone flash may make it more suitable for scanning documents, and its form factor may make capturing videos and images more comfortable, but broadly the rear cameras on the two are very similar.

Front-Facing Cameras

Among the more significant differences between the two iPads are their front-facing cameras. The ‌iPad mini‌ has a much more advanced 12MP ƒ/2.4 Ultra Wide camera with 2x zoom out and extended dynamic range. This is a huge improvement over the 7MP ƒ/2.2 ‌FaceTime‌ HD camera of the ‌iPad Air‌.

The ‌iPad mini‌'s Ultra Wide front-facing camera enables its support for Center Stage, which automatically keeps users perfectly framed during video calls. As users move around, Center Stage automatically pans to keep them in the frame. When other people join in on the call, the camera detects them too, and smoothly zooms out to fit everyone into the view and make sure they are part of the conversation.

This means that for video calls and selfies, the ‌iPad mini‌ is a much more capable device that should deliver a markedly better experience and image quality.

Wireless Connectivity

Both the ‌iPad mini‌ and ‌iPad Air‌ feature Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, and are available in Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + Cellular variants. For the cellular models, a key difference between the ‌iPad mini‌ and ‌iPad Air‌ is 5G connectivity. The ‌iPad Air‌ is able to connect to 4G LTE only, while the ‌iPad mini‌ can connect to 6GHz 5G for much faster speeds with the latest cellular technology. If you plan to use a cellular plan with your ‌iPad‌, this may be an important consideration and would make the ‌iPad mini‌ much more future-proof.

Accessories

The ‌iPad mini‌ and ‌iPad Air‌ are compatible with the second-generation ‌Apple Pencil‌, which magnetically snaps onto the side for pairing, charging, and storage. The ‌iPad mini‌'s form factor may make it a great match for note-making with the ‌Apple Pencil‌, while the larger display of the ‌iPad Air‌ may be better for illustration and graphic design.

The ‌iPad Air‌ features a magnetic ‌Smart Connector‌ on its rear to connect to keyboards such as Apple's Magic Keyboard and ‌Smart Keyboard‌ Folio. It is also compatible with Bluetooth keyboards and pointers.

Due to its small size, the ‌iPad mini‌ does not feature a ‌Smart Connector‌ or any first-party keyboard options. The ‌iPad mini‌ is still compatible with external keyboards and pointing devices, but these would need to be separate devices that connect via Bluetooth.

If you plan to transport your ‌iPad‌ with a keyboard or use it as a laptop replacement, you will be better off buying the ‌iPad Air‌. The ‌iPad mini‌ is still workable with Bluetooth peripherals for occasional emails or word processing, but its size is simply not practical for use as a complete laptop replacement.

Other iPad Options

If the ‌iPad Air‌ is out of your price range but you would still like an ‌iPad‌ with a bigger screen, there is the ninth-generation ‌iPad‌, which starts at $329 and serves as an entry-level model in the ‌iPad‌ lineup. This undercuts the price of the $499 ‌iPad mini‌ and $599 ‌iPad Air‌, but still offers important features like an Ultra Wide front-facing camera with Center Stage, first-generation ‌Apple Pencil‌ compatibility, a ‌Smart Connector‌ for use with an Apple ‌Smart Keyboard‌, the A13 chip, and more.

• iPad Air 2020 vs. iPad Pro 2021 Buyer's Guide

Alternatively, if you are looking for an ‌iPad‌ that is more geared toward productivity with "pro" features, there is the iPad Pro, which starts at $799. The ‌iPad Pro‌ features the M1 chip from the Mac, a ProMotion display, a Thunderbolt port, and offers an even larger model with a 12.9-inch display.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the ‌iPad Air‌ is the best all-around option for the majority of users, providing a large screen for productivity and consuming entertainment in a slim, portable design. The additional $100 needed to buy the ‌iPad Air‌ over the ‌iPad mini‌ is more than justified for the benefits that come with a larger display, not least the ability to practically use it as a laptop replacement.

Yet, most customers buying the ‌iPad mini‌ will likely be buying it because of its screen size rather than in spite of it. The ‌iPad mini‌ is ideal for comfortably reading books, playing handheld games, and unobtrusive storage.

Those who buy the ‌iPad mini‌ will likely have a specific use case in mind for how they will use the device, such as for note-taking on the go, throwing into a small backpack to use on public transport, or sliding into a large pocket to use while working.

The ‌iPad mini‌ is undoubtedly more futureproof with its newer A15 chip, 5G connectivity, improved front-facing camera, and Center Stage. Using a cellular connection or holding video calls is also a better experience on the ‌iPad mini‌, but again, the main reason to choose the ‌iPad mini‌ will be its novel size.

If you do not see the ‌iPad mini‌'s smaller display, easy one-handed grip, light weight, and portable form factor as an active advantage and are focused on a more versatile larger display, you will likely prefer the ‌iPad Air‌. If you want more of an all-around device that works as a potential laptop replacement, with the added bonuses that come with a bigger screen for productivity and entertainment, the ‌iPad Air‌ will be the better option for you.

Google today lambasted European Union regulators for ignoring Apple and the rivalry between Apple and Android in the antitrust accusations that have been levied against Google, reports Reuters.

Apple was brought up as part of Google's attempt to get a massive 4.34 billion euro ($5.1 billion) fine annulled. The European Commission first levied the fine against Google in 2018 because Google pre-installed its own services (Google Search and the Chrome browser) on Android to ensure its dominance in internet search.

According to Google, the European Commission has ignored the dynamic between Apple and Google and has downplayed the impact that Apple has on the mobile device market.

"The Commission shut its eyes to the real competitive dynamic in this industry, that between Apple and Android," Google's lawyer Meredith Pickford told the court.

"By defining markets too narrowly and downplaying the potent constraint imposed by the highly powerful Apple, the Commission has mistakenly found Google to be dominant in mobile operating systems and app stores, when it was in fact a vigorous market disrupter," he said.

Google is actually an "exceptional success story of the power of competition in action," Google's lawyers said.

The European Commission argued that "bringing Apple into the picture doesn't change things very much" because Apple and Google pursue different models and because Apple has a smaller market share. Android is installed on approximately 80 percent of the smartphones in the world.

Google is continuing to fight the fine, and a verdict on whether the fine will need to be paid is expected in 2022.

The European Union is planning on implementing sweeping legal measures that would require tech companies to share data with competitors and give no preference to their own apps and services, legislation that would impact both Apple and Google.

It would require Apple to allow iPhone and iPad users to download apps from third-party App Stores or from the internet, and Apple has been fighting against it. Apple CEO Tim Cook said earlier this year that the upcoming rules could "destroy the security" of the ‌iPhone‌.

Last week, security researcher Denis Tokarev made several zero-day iOS vulnerabilities public after he said that Apple had ignored his reports and had failed to fix the issues for several months.

Tokarev today told Motherboard that Apple got in touch after he went public with his complaints and after they saw significant media attention. In an email, Apple apologized for the contact delay and said that it is "still investigating" the issues.

"We saw your blog post regarding this issue and your other reports. We apologize for the delay in responding to you," an Apple employee wrote. "We want to let you know that we are still investigating these issues and how we can address them to protect customers. Thank you again for taking the time to report these issues to us, we appreciate your assistance. Please let us know if you have any questions."

Apple did fix one of the vulnerabilities in iOS 14.7, but did not provide Tokarev with credit. Three others remain unaddressed, including a Game Center bug that allegedly allows any app installed from the App Store to access full Apple ID email and name, ‌Apple ID‌ authentication tokens, lists of contacts, and some attachments.

Details on all of the zero-day vulnerabilities have been published publicly by Tokarev, which may prompt Apple to fix them faster.

Tokarev first contacted Apple about these bugs between March 10 and May 4, so Apple has had months to issue patches, but it's worth noting that several security researchers and Tokarev himself have confirmed that the bugs are not highly critical as exploiting them would require a malicious app to first receive ‌App Store‌ approval.

Still, experts have criticized Apple's response and its bug bounty program. Cybersecurity expert Katie Moussouris told Motherboard that Apple's handling of the process is "not normal and should not be considered normal," while researcher Nicholas Ptacek said that Apple's response comes across as a "reaction to bad press."

Earlier this month, The Washington Post interviewed more than two dozen security researchers to expose the flaws in Apple's bug bounty program. Researchers said that Apple is slow to fix bugs and doesn't always pay out what's owed, leading researchers to be unhappy with Apple's program.

At the time, Apple's Head of Security Engineering and Architecture, Ivan Krstić, said that Apple is "planning to introduce new rewards for researchers" to expand participation, and that Apple is working toward offering new and even better research tools.

iFixit has started one of its traditional full device teardowns on the new iPhone 13 Pro, giving us a complete look at all of the components that are inside.

Prior to taking a look inside the new iPhone, iFixit did X-rays to show off the L-shaped battery, the MagSafe magnet ring, and stabilizing magnets for image sensors and logic boards.

This year's ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro has an upper sensor cable near the top that's easy to rip during repairs, with iFixit calling it "scary thin." Visually, the Taptic Engine inside the device that controls Haptic Touch appears to be smaller, but it's actually bulkier than the similar component in the ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro, weighing in at 6.3 grams, up from 4.8.

Compared to the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro, the ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro does away with the display-mounted speaker earpiece, a move that will make display replacements easier. iFixit suspects that Apple is using touch-integrated OLED panels that combine the touch and OLED layers of the display, cutting down on cost, thickness, and the number of cables to deal with.

The ‌iPhone‌ 13's flood illuminator and dot projector have merged into one module, which is part of the reason why Apple was able to cut down the size of the notch on this year's iPhones, and the Face ID hardware is now independent of the display. The earpiece speaker that was removed from the display has been relocated between the front-facing camera and the ‌Face ID‌ module.

According to iFixit, despite the decoupling of the ‌Face ID‌ module and the display, any display replacement disables ‌Face ID‌. This means that screen replacements not authorized by Apple will result in non-functional ‌Face ID‌ components.

As we found out last week, the ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro is using an 11.97Wh battery, which equates to 3,095mAh, up from 2,815mAh in the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro. The battery in the ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro has an L-shaped design this year, a departure from the rectangular battery used in last year's Pro model. iFixit says that battery swap tests have been successful, despite rumors that battery replacements wouldn't be possible.

There's 6GB SK Hynix LPDDR4X RAM inside, along with several Apple-designed power management and ultra-wide band chips, and as expected, the ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro is equipped with Qualcomm's SDX60M modem and what iFixit believes is a Qualcomm DRR868 5G RF transceiver.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the Qualcomm modem chip in this year's iPhones has satellite communication functionality, but if it's in there, iFixit didn't notice and as no satellite feature has been announced, it's a latent function if it exists. Bloomberg has clarified that Apple is working on a satellite feature that will let people send texts in emergency situations using a satellite connection, but this functionality isn't expected until 2022.

Moving on, the ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro features Kioxia NAND Flash memory, a front-end module from Broadcom, an NXP Semiconductor NFC controller, and more.

iFixit's full teardown has more detail on all of the components that are inside the device, and iFixit ultimately gave the ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro a repairability score of 5 out of 10 due to the ‌Face ID‌ display replacement issue, the double glass, and the waterproofing methods that make some repairs more difficult.

Apple has unveiled limited edition Beats Studio3 headphones in partnership with A-COLD-WALL, a fashion brand by British designer Samuel Ross.

The wireless headphones will be available in a slate color with a "speckled cement" finish that covers both the headphones and ear cushions. There's an ACW logo on the outside of the headband, while the inside of the headband has a clay color with more A-COLD-WALL branding. The included carrying case is also branded with an ACW logo.

The limited edition Beats are listed as coming soon on Apple's online store, with pricing set at $349.95 in the United States.

Apple first released the Beats Studio3 in September 2017 and several limited edition designs have been made available since then. The wireless over-ear headphones feature Apple's W1 chip for seamless setup with Apple devices, up to 22 hours of battery life with active noise cancellation enabled, a foldable design, and more. Keep in mind the headphones are four years old and still have Bluetooth 4.0 and a micro USB port for charging.

Apple made few design changes to the iPhone 13 lineup and the new devices continue to feature a durable Ceramic Shield front to protect the display, a glass back, and flat edges at the side.

Allstate Protection Plans conducted one of its annual drop tests on the ‌iPhone‌ 13 and 13 Pro, and found that due to the similar designs, the ‌iPhone‌ 13 models are comparable to the ‌iPhone‌ 12 models when it comes to durability.

In a face-down drop test without a case, the ‌iPhone‌ 13 survived a single drop with only minor damage, but it cracked at the top and bottom corners in the second drop test. The ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro cracked across the bottom in its first drop test, and these are the same results seen with the ‌iPhone‌ 12 models.

In a back-down drop test the ‌iPhone‌ 13 survived with hardly any damage, showing only minor cracks along one of the cameras and the corner. The ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro shattered after one drop, and again, these results mirrored the results Allstate Protection Plans saw with the ‌iPhone‌ 12 and 12 Pro.

This year, Allstate Protection Plans added in-case drop tests to see how well protected the iPhones are in Apple's Silicone and Leather MagSafe Case options.

With the Silicone Case, the ‌iPhone‌ 13 survived three back-down drops in a row with only a small scratch on a camera lens. In a face-down drop, the ‌iPhone‌ 13 cracked on its second drop.

In the Leather Case, the ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro survived three drops with no damage when dropped back-down, but it cracked on its first drop when dropped face-down.

"The Apple iPhone 13 series has been viewed as a product evolution rather than a revolution, and we've found that to be true when it comes to durability as well," said Jason Siciliano, Allstate Protection Plan vice president of marketing and creative director. "In our first test of an Apple case with MagSafe, we found that both silicone and leather did a great job of protecting the phones when dropped on their backs, though not as much when dropped face down. With back panel repairs costing as much as $549 for iPhone 13 Pro, a case is a must."

As with any drop test, what happens to an ‌iPhone‌ 13 model when dropped in the real world is going to depend on the height that it's dropped from, the material that it falls on, where the ‌iPhone‌ takes the hit, and other factors, so these demonstrations aren't necessarily indicative of what's going to occur when your phone is dropped.

Apple sells AppleCare+ for the new iPhones, which covers two incidents of accidental damage each year for a $29 deductible. ‌AppleCare‌+ is often worth purchasing for those who have concerns about device durability and want peace of mind about any potential accidents.