MacRumors

Apple has decorated some of its retail stores around the world with a series of colorful stripes that are designed to celebrate the International Collection of Apple Watch bands that were released in June.

Several photos of the decorated Apple Store locations have been shared on Twitter, showing off stripes in different country colors. Both the new Apple Watch bands and the striped ‌Apple Store‌ decorations come ahead of the 2021 Olympic Games that are set to begin in Tokyo, Japan on Friday, July 23. Apple Stores in Japan, Italy, the U.S., and other countries are featuring the new design.

Apple's International Collection features Apple Watch bands dedicated to the following countries:

• Australia
• Belgium
• Brazil
• Canada
• China
• Denmark
• France
• Germany
• Great Britain
• Greece
• Italy
• Jamaica
• Japan
• Mexico
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Russia
• South Africa
• South Korea
• Spain
• Sweden
• United States

Bands are priced at $49.99 each and feature the same design and materials as other Sport Loop options. Apple has also made matching watch faces available.

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Astropad to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a Luna Display adapter that can turn an extra Mac or iPad into a secondary display for a primary Mac.

Priced at $130, the Luna Display adapter dongle is designed to plug into a Mac using a USB-C port (on newer Macs) or a Mini DisplayPort, and when paired up with the Luna Display software, a main Mac (or even a PC) can be connected to an ‌iPad‌ or another Mac using Wifi.

With this setup, you can take advantage of old hardware or add an extra display to your workflow without having to spend money on another device.

The Luna Display extends a Mac's display to the secondary Mac or ‌iPad‌, allowing the device to be used as a second screen, something that's especially useful as people continue learning and working from home.

Apple's ‌iPad‌ and Mac do have a built-in Sidecar function that can turn an ‌iPad‌ into a secondary display for a Mac without the need for an accessory, but this only works with a Mac and an ‌iPad‌ while the Luna Display supports Mac-to-Mac connectivity. Luna Display is also able to work with older iPads that don't support ‌Sidecar‌.

Starting this fall, Apple will allow Mac to Mac AirPlay with macOS Monterey, but Luna Display still has multiple benefits over ‌AirPlay‌ technology. ‌AirPlay‌ is limited to newer Mac models and up to 1080p display resolution, and the trackpad and keyboard only work with the primary Mac.

Luna Display offers full native resolution, works with older Mac models, offers keyboard and trackpad support for both Macs, and offers low latency performance. As of May, the Luna Display's Mac-to-Mac feature works over Ethernet and Thunderbolt in addition to WiFi.

With Mac-to-Mac mode, the primary Mac needs to be running OS X El Capitan or later, while the secondary Mac can be running OS X Mountain Lion or later, so the dongle works with machines that are quite old, giving them new life. For the best performance, Astropad suggests a 2012 MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iMac, or later, or a 2013 Mac Pro or later.

Luna Display provides full keyboard, trackpad, and mouse support on both connected Macs in Mac-to-Mac mode, and it has native support for M1 Macs. PC owners can use the Luna Display adapter for Windows, which extends the desktop from PC to ‌iPad‌, allowing devices to work interchangeably.

For iPads, the Luna Display is compatible with the ‌‌iPad‌‌ 2 or later, all iPad mini models, all iPad Pro models, and all iPad Air models, with iOS 9.1 or later as the only requirement. Performance is faster on newer iPads, but older models work well too.

We have five Luna Display adapters to give away to MacRumors readers. To enter to win, use the Gleam.io widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winners and send the prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, following us on Instagram, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.

The contest will run from today (July 16) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on July 23. The winners will be chosen randomly on July 23 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.

Apple today seeded the second public beta of the macOS 12 Monterey beta to public beta testers, allowing non-developers to test the new macOS Monterey software ahead of its public release. The second beta comes two weeks after Apple released the first macOS Monterey public beta.

Public beta testers can download the macOS 12 Monterey update from the Software Update section of the System Preferences app after installing the proper profile from Apple's beta software website.

macOS Monterey introduces quite a few major updates for the macOS operating system. Universal Control, for example, lets a single mouse, trackpad, and keyboard be used across multiple Mac or iPad devices, and it's now possible to AirPlay directly to a Mac from an iPhone, ‌iPad‌, or even another Mac.

Safari has an updated tab bar and support for Tab Groups to keep tons of tabs organized, and FaceTime now features support for spatial audio, Portrait Mode (M1 Macs only) and Voice Isolation for cutting out background noise. A SharePlay ‌FaceTime‌ feature lets Apple TV users watch TV, listen to music, and share their screens with one another.

Shared With You, another new feature, keeps track of the music, links, podcasts, news, and photos that people are sent in Messages, highlighting it in the relevant apps. Notes has a new Quick Note feature for jotting down thoughts, and the Shortcuts app is now available on the Mac.

A dedicated Focus mode helps people stay on task by cutting out background distractions based on what's going on, and there's an updated Maps app with a whole slew of new features. With Live Text, Macs can now detect text in photos or provide details on animals, art, landmarks, plants, and more in images.

Mail Privacy Protection hides IP and prevents tracking through invisible pixels, and iCloud Private Relay keeps Safari browsing protected. There are many other new features in ‌macOS Monterey‌, with a complete overview available in our macOS Monterey roundup.

In the developer beta that corresponds to the second public beta, Apple changed the default design of the Safari tab bar following multiple usability complaints. There's now a dedicated address bar at the top of the Safari window, with tabs arranged below it, rather than an all-in-one integrated design. Those who preferred the original design can use the View menu to toggle off "Show Separate Tab Bar."

Apple today seeded the second betas of iOS and iPadOS 15 to public beta testers, allowing non-developers to download and test the new updates ahead of their fall release. The second public betas come two weeks after Apple released the first public betas.

Public beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program can download the iOS and iPadOS 15 updates over the air after installing the proper certificate from the Public Beta website.

iOS 15 is adding new features for FaceTime, tools for reducing distractions, updated notifications, and privacy enhancements. ‌FaceTime‌ supports SharePlay for watching TV, listening to music, or screen sharing with friends, while a Shared with You feature keeps track of the songs, website links, pictures, and more that friends send you.

Focus is designed to help keep you on task by cutting out notifications you don't want while you're busy, and there's a new notifications summary feature that prevents you from being inundated with unimportant notifications throughout the day.

Safari has a redesigned look with a compact tab bar that's located at the bottom of the screen, plus Tab Groups let users save open tabs for later. Maps has a new zoomed out globe view and a new 3D view in select cities, plus there's more road detail and an AR-based walking direction feature.

The Wallet app will support IDs and more kinds of keys in iOS 15, and Photos gains updates to Memories and a new Live Text feature that uses on-device intelligence to recognize the text in an image, making it searchable and copyable. Spotlight is better than ever, and processing for Siri requests is now done directly on device.

Mail Privacy Protection in the Mail app stops senders from seeing your IP address and knowing if you've opened up an email, and an App Privacy Report gives you details on how often apps use permissions like camera and location access.

There are a ton of other new features available in iOS and iPadOS 15, with full details available in our roundup. The latest developer beta introduced Safari refinements, updates to the Focus interface, and more, all of which should be in the second public beta.

Apple has also seeded new public betas of tvOS 15 and watchOS 8 to its public beta testing group. tvOS 15 can be downloaded by opening up the Settings app on the ‌Apple TV‌, navigating to the Software Updates section under "System," and then toggling on "Get public Beta Updates" after signing up to beta test on Apple's public beta website.

watchOS 8 can be downloaded can be downloaded after upgrading your iPhone to the public beta version of iOS 15. After installing ‌iOS 15‌, the proper ‌watchOS 8‌ profile from Apple's beta software website must also be installed. The software can be accessed by going to General > Software Update in the Apple Watch app on ‌‌iPhone‌‌. To update, ‌Apple Watch‌ needs to have 50 percent battery life, it must be placed on the charger, and it must be in range of the ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌iPhone‌‌.

Kevin Lynch, who is well known at Apple for overseeing work on the Apple Watch, is set to take on a role leading the development of the Apple Car, reports Business Insider.

Several sources within Apple told Business Insider that Apple has been called on to help lead the Apple Car project, which has undergone several shifts in leadership over the years.

Right now, Apple Car development is overseen by John Giannandrea, Apple's AI and machine learning chief who took over the reins from Bob Mansfield after Mansfield retired in 2020. Rumors about the Apple Car have suggested that leadership issues and internal strife have impacted the project, which is perhaps no surprise given what a massive undertaking it is.

Prior to bringing the Apple Watch to fruition, Lynch worked at Adobe and helped create Creative Cloud, plus he has worked on Apple's healthcare strategy team, so he has a diverse background. Business Insider says that his title will not change and he will continue to be involved with both the Apple Watch and Apple's health initiatives, but he is stepping back from Jeff Williams' health care staff and will be replaced by director of health software engineering Evan Doll on that team.

Apple is now at a stage where it is sourcing components, talking with suppliers, and making deals with manufacturing partners for the Apple Car, requiring more hands-on help from experienced executives within Apple.

Work on an Apple Car is still in the early stages and multiple sources have said that a finished self-driving vehicle could be released sometime between 2025 to 2028. We have more on the development of the Apple Car in our Apple Car roundup.

iPhone 12 models have held their value better than ‌iPhone‌ 11 models did after the same amount of time, according to a new report by SellCell.

During the six months following launch, the ‌iPhone‌ 12 models lost on average 34.5 percent of their value, while during the same period after the launch of the ‌iPhone‌ 11 lineup, ‌iPhone‌ 11 models lost 43.8 percent of their value. This means that ‌iPhone‌ 12 models are currently holding their value 9.3 percentage points better than the ‌iPhone‌ 11 models did during the six months after launch.

Although the launch of the ‌iPhone‌ 12 prompted the ‌iPhone‌ 11 models to lose eight percent of their value in three months and ten percent of their value within nine months, the ‌iPhone‌ 11 models are now steadying in their depreciation.

Out of the ‌iPhone‌ 11, ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max, the ‌iPhone‌ 11 has depreciated the least with a loss of only 31.7 percent, despite being the least expensive model. This is 17.5 percent less depreciation than the ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro and nine percent less depreciation than the average across all three handsets.

Throughout the 21 months since its launch, the ‌iPhone‌ 11 still performed best, having lost 49.1 percent of its value overall. The ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro, on the other hand, was the worst performer, losing 56.9 percent of its value in the 21 months since its launch.

In the ‌iPhone‌ 12 lineup, the iPhone 12 mini depreciated the most, losing 41 percent of its value after six months. This is almost nine percent more depreciation on average than the other devices evaluated, perhaps indicating reduced demand. Even so, each of the ‌iPhone‌ 12 models recovered value. The iPhone 12 Pro Max lost 49.2 percent in month one, but by month six, the handset recovered 20.3 percent of its MSRP.

Overall, both the ‌iPhone‌ 11 and ‌iPhone‌ 12 series of devices lost 40 to 50 percent of their value within the first four weeks of launch on average. The ‌iPhone‌ is still by far the best smartphone for value retention regardless of the exact model. For example, a previous study has shown the ‌iPhone‌ 12 holds its value 20 percent better than the Samsung Galaxy S21.

The surging popularity of AirPods has reportedly resulted in record numbers of counterfeit wireless headphones being seized at the U.S. border.

According to The Information's Wayne Ma, roughly 360,000 counterfeit wireless headphones with a retail value of $62.2 million were confiscated in the first nine months of the U.S. government's fiscal year, based on data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. By comparison, the report claims 295,000 counterfeits with a retail value of $61.7 million were seized at the U.S. border in the entire 2020 fiscal year.

U.S. Customs told The Information that 80% of all counterfeit products coming into the U.S. were from mainland China or Hong Kong. While it's unclear how many of the seized counterfeit headphones were AirPods, U.S. Customs said seizures have increased 50% in the past five years as products such as Apple's earbuds have gained popularity.

The retail value of counterfeit wireless headphones seized by U.S. Customs appears to have skyrocketed following the release of AirPods Pro in October 2019.

MacRumors shared a comparison of real and fake AirPods Pro back in 2019:

The Information examined counterfeit AirPods Pro sold in Hong Kong in December, noting that they had a genuine Apple serial number and were physically indistinguishable from legitimate AirPods Pro, and even had functional active noise cancellation and Transparency mode features. The report claims one of the only ways to determine that the AirPods were fake was by looking up their firmware version, which was incorrect.

Today marks the release of three remastered classics on Apple Arcade, including Angry Birds Reloaded, Doodle God Universe, and Alto's Odyssey: The Lost City.

Angry Birds Reloaded features familiar physics-based bird slingshotting action from the original game, with new characters and visual enhancements. There is also a new game mode with eagles wreaking havoc on the island.

Doodle God Universe is a world building game that tasks players with mixing and matching elements like water and stone to create an entire universe.

First released in 2018, Alto's Odyssey is an award-winning endless sandboarding game with beautiful procedurally generated graphics, dynamic lighting and weather conditions, and original music. In the Apple Arcade edition of the game, players embark on a sandboarding journey to find a new biome called The Lost City and unearth the secrets hidden within, with the classic Alto's Odyssey experience preserved.

The classic endless runner Jetpack Joyride+ is also coming to Apple Arcade on July 23.

Additional classic games were added to Apple Arcade in April, including Fruit Ninja Classic, Monument Valley, and Cut the Rope Remastered.

Priced at $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year, Apple Arcade provides access to a catalog of around 200 games without ads or in-app purchases across the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV, with additional titles added periodically.

Twitter is testing a new timeline layout in which photos are stretched to the edge of the display with no horizontal margins, mimicking the design layout of popular photo and video sharing apps, such as Instagram.

The new layout was shared by Jane Manchun Wong on Twitter, who often uncovers what features and changes Twitter is working on behind the scenes. The change is still in testing, but according to a screenshot shared by Wong, photos will now go edge-to-edge, compared to the current layout that features horizontal margins on either side of photos.

Separately, while Twitter announced this week it would be shutting down "Fleets," its stories-like function in August, the company is possibly eyeing a possible new feature, the most wanted by users.

In a tweet (via 9to5Mac), the company's product lead, Kayvon Beykpour, surveyed his followers as to whether they would subscribe to "Twitter Blue," the platform's monthly subscription service, if it offered users the ability to edit tweets for a few minutes after they were posted.

While there is no say as to whether the ability to edit tweets will ever become a reality, the company's product lead survey is certainly telling that Twitter is once again exploring the idea and attempting to garner public opinion.

Ahead of its global premiere next week, Apple today held a screening event for season two of the Apple TV+ hit comedy series "Ted Lasso" at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, and was attended by the cast and creators of the show, including Apple CEO Tim Cook.

"Ted Lasso" first aired last year as one of the first original series for the ‌Apple TV‌+ platform and has since grown in popularity. The second season of the show, which will consist of 12 episodes with an episode premiering every Friday, will premiere on ‌Apple TV‌+ on Friday, July 23. Even before its debut, Apple has already renewed the show for a third season, which the creators of the show have hinted may be the last.

This week "Ted Lasso" scored an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series, alongside 20 overall nominations. Jason Sudeikis, who plays Ted Lasso in the show, was also nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

Apple today launched the third part of its annual Back to School promotion, with back to school deals now available in most countries in Europe, some countries in Asia, and the Middle East.

Higher education students and educators can get a set of free AirPods with the purchase of select Macs and iPads, which is the same deal that went live in the United States and Canada in June and Australia and New Zealand in January.

Qualifying devices include the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, 24-inch iMac, Mac Pro, Mac mini, M1 iPad Pro, and iPad Air. The low-cost iPad, iPad mini, and refurbished products from Apple are not eligible for the promotion, but all educational purchases are available at discounted prices through the dedicated EDU store in each country.

Apple customers who make a qualifying purchase can get the second-generation AirPods for free, or upgrade to AirPods with Wireless Charging or AirPods Pro for an additional fee. Students are also eligible for AppleCare+ at a 20 percent discount.

Apple's Back to School promotion requires verification through UNiDAYS in many countries, with full terms and conditions available on the promotional pages for Apple's country-specific websites.

Back to School deals are available to students and educators in countries that include the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Russia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Thailand.

Apple was the number three worldwide smartphone vendor in the second quarter of 2021, according to smartphone shipment estimates shared today by Canalys.

Apple's iPhone sales were surpassed by smartphone sales from Samsung and Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, with Xiaomi surpassing Apple and taking the number two spot for the first time.

Samsung was the most popular smartphone vendor with 19 percent market share and 15 percent growth, while Xiaomi earned 17 percent market share thanks to an 83 percent growth in smartphone sales during the quarter. Apple was responsible for 14 percent market share, followed by Oppo and Vivo with 10 percent each.

Xiaomi's growth is thanks to overseas business, with the company increasing shipments by more than 300 percent in Latin America, 150 percent in Africa, and 50 percent in Western Europe. Xiaomi is known for selling more affordable smartphones, and its average selling price is around 75 percent cheaper than Apple's iPhones.

Going forward, to overtake Samsung, Canalys suggests that Xiaomi will need to increase its sales of high-end devices like the Mi 11 Ultra, which is priced at over $900.

So a major priority for Xiaomi this year is to grow sales of its high-end devices, such as the Mi 11 Ultra. But it will be a tough battle, with Oppo and Vivo sharing the same objective, and both willing to spend big on above-the-line marketing to build their brands in a way that Xiaomi is not. All vendors are fighting hard to secure component supply amid global shortages, but Xiaomi already has its sights set on the next prize: displacing Samsung to become the world's largest vendor.

Global smartphone shipments vary from quarter to quarter, and it's usually Apple and Samsung taking the first and second spots. In the fourth quarter of 2020, Apple was the number one smartphone vendor in the world due to strong sales of the ‌iPhone‌ 12 models, so Apple may overtake Xiaomi in subsequent quarters as the launch of the ‌iPhone‌ 13 approaches.

Spain's Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) last week sent a letter (via iPhoneros) demanding that Apple compensate customers for "reported obsolescence practices" related to recent iPhone models including the ‌iPhone‌ 12, ‌iPhone‌ 11, ‌iPhone‌ 8, and ‌iPhone‌ XS.

According to the OCU, Apple's iOS 14.5, iOS 14.5.1, and iOS 14.6 updates have "significantly damaged consumer devices" by "causing their processor speed to drop dramatically" and lowering battery life. As evidence, the OCU cites "numerous media outlets."

The OCU asked Apple to justify the "lack of performance" of the aforementioned ‌iPhone‌ models following the recent iOS updates, and said that the letter is intended to "initiate a dialog with Apple" in order to find the "best way to compensate consumers."

Apple's "excessively rapid wear and tear" on iPhones following updates is unfair to consumers and harms the environment, says the OCU.

If Apple does not provide an adequate response, the OCU plans to consider other actions such as a lawsuit enforcing consumer rights.

Apple has been accused of planned obsolescence in the past, primarily relating to the 2017 release of iOS 10.2.1, which included a feature that throttled the performance of older iPhones with degrading batteries in order to prevent device shutdowns.

Apple failed to make it clear that mitigating shutdowns would require compromising device performance, which led to consumer upset and a series of lawsuits that Apple is continuing to deal with today. Most recently, Apple shelled out $3.4 million to settle a lawsuit in Chile, and it has also faced lawsuits in the United States, Belgium, Spain, Italy, and Portugal.

As for iOS 14.5, 14.5.1, and 14.6, there have indeed been reports of excessive battery drain, and iOS 14.5 in particular fixed an iPhone 11 battery drain issue with a new recalibration process. There were also some scattered reports of throttling with the iOS 14.5.1 update, but reports from affected users suggest the issue was addressed in iOS 14.6.

Apple has maintained that it would never intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to push customers to upgrade.

Mophie today introduced a new 3-in-1 wireless charging stand, which is designed to work with Apple's MagSafe Charger, which is not included.

The 3-in-1 Stand for ‌MagSafe‌ Charger features a wireless charging pad designed for the AirPods or AirPods Pro, an Apple Watch charging puck, and an upright stand where a ‌MagSafe‌ Charger can be inserted.

Mophie is asking $90 for the 3-in-1 Stand for ‌MagSafe‌ Charger, but customers will also need to own a ‌MagSafe‌ Charger, which is priced at $40, bringing the total price for this accessory to $130.

The 3-in-1 Stand for ‌MagSafe‌ is made from white plastic and a silver aluminum material, so it does match the ‌MagSafe‌ Charger and there's a near seamless look. The Wireless Charging Stand has a cable for the AirPods charger and the Apple Watch Charger, but you will need a separate power adapter for the ‌MagSafe‌ cable.

Mophie's stand offers all of the benefits of ‌MagSafe‌, including support for landscape or portrait modes, magnetic attachment, easy placement and fitting, and 15W wireless charging (12W for the iPhone 12 mini).

The 3-in-1 Stand for ‌MagSafe‌ Charger can be purchased from Apple or from Mophie for $89.95.

Elago is known for its range of clever case designs for Apple's devices, and its newest case designed for the Apple TV Siri Remote adds the one feature that Apple left out - Find My functionality.

With the ‌Apple TV‌ ‌Siri‌ Remote R5 Case, there's space to insert an AirTag at the back, which means that if you ever lose your remote, you can locate the ‌AirTag‌ that's inside with the ‌Find My‌ app.

Priced at $15, the Elago Remote R5 Case is made from a thick layer of what the company calls premium silicone, which is designed to protect the remote from drops and other damage.

Elago says that the design of the R5 was modeled after its previous cases, but with the added ‌AirTag‌ holder functionality. With this case, all buttons remain accessible, including the ‌Siri‌ button on the side, which is protected by a silicone cover.

The ‌Apple TV‌ ‌Siri‌ Remote R5 Case can be purchased from Amazon or from the Elago website for $14.99.