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We've been tracking early Black Friday deals in our dedicated Black Friday Roundup, and in an effort to prepare our readers for the big shopping event we're highlighting sales store-by-store in the lead-up to November 27.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Target. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Similar to Walmart, Target has been holding quite a few pre-Black Friday sales throughout November. Thanks to the release of its Black Friday circular recently, now we have a clear picture of all the deals you'll see if you choose to shop Target on Black Friday.

Target's Black Friday Schedule

Like other stores, Target's event is more of a week of sales rather than just one day. The retailer kicked things off on Sunday, November 22, and deals will come in and out all the way through Saturday, November 28. This means that essentially all of the deals listed in this post are already live.

• Sunday, November 22 - Online sales begin
• Thursday, November 26 - Stores closed, online sales continue
• Friday, November 27 - Specific opening hours vary by location

Covid-19 Safety Efforts: Last month, Target initiated a number of new safety measures in preparation for holiday shopping. You can expect the usual ordinances when shopping at Target this season: you'll need to wear a face mask in any Target store, and if you don't want to enter the store you can opt to use the "Drive Up" grocery drop-off service.

Additionally, guests can take advantage of contactless self-checkout thanks to the Wallet feature in the Target app, and the retailer is even rolling out "MyCheckout" devices to let team members help guests check out anywhere in the store and avoid lines.

If you're preparing a big Target shopping trip, you can visit Target.com/line to see if there's a line outside your local store. If there is, you can reserve a spot in the line without needing to physically be there. When it's your turn to enter the store, Target sends out a text to your phone and you can start shopping.

Target Black Friday - Deals live now

Target has a few deals that are overlapping with other retailers, including discounts on the Nintendo Switch, Amazon's line of Fire TV devices, and a few Beats headphones. In terms of Apple sales, Target's ad is a bit anemic, but we are seeing offers on iPhone 12 models and Beats headphones. This includes a low price on the Powerbeats Pro at $159.99.

If you're shopping for AirPods, you'll be better heading to Walmart for AirPods Pro (beginning November 25) or Amazon for regular AirPods.

iPhone

Target is offering up to $250 in bill credits on the latest iPhones when you port in a line to AT&T and purchase the smartphone on an AT&T installment plan. This is only available for in-store pickup through November 28.

Additionally, you can get up to $700 off select Apple products when trading in and adding a new line or upgrading an existing line on an eligible smartphone plan. This offer is also only available in Target stores and not online.

New iPhones eligible for these offers include iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, and iPhone 12 mini. Older iPhone models, like the iPhone 11 Pro Max, have other offers including a $300 Target gift card with qualified activation.

Audio

• AirPods with Charging Case - $129.99, down from $159.99
• Powerbeats Pro - $159.99, down from $249.00
• Beats Studio3 Wireless - $174.99, down from $349.99
• Bose SoundLink Color Wireless Speaker - $79.99, down from $129.99
• UE Wonderboom 2 - $49.99, down from $99.99

TVs

• Westinghouse 50-inch 4K UHD TV - $169.99, down from $309.99
• TCL 43-inch 4K UHD TV - $169.99, down from $199.99
• LG 55-inch 4K UHD Smart TV - $499.99, down from $699.99
• Sony 55-inch 4K UHD Smart TV - $549.99, down from $649.99 ($30 gift card with purhcase)

Smart Home

• Amazon Echo 4th Gen - $69.99, down from $99.99
• Amazon Echo Dot 4th Gen - $28.99, down from $49.99
• Eero Mesh Wi-Fi - $174.00, down rom $249.00
  

• Ring Video Doorbell 3 - $139.99, down from $199.99
• Google Nest Hub - $49.99, down from $89.99

Video Games

Like all of the other major retailers, Target is offering the Nintendo Switch bundle with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and three months of Nintendo Switch Online for $299.99. You can also shop for some deals on Switch games, including Luigi's Mansion 3, Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, Super Mario Maker 2, and more for $39.99.

Other video game discounts include $29.99 games like The Last of Us Part 2, Just Dance 2021, Borderlands: Legendary Collection, Persona 5 Royal, and more. Other $39.99 games include Splatoon 2, Ghost of Tsushima, Watch Dogs: Legion, Crash Bandicoot 4, Yoshi's Crafted World, Mario Tennis Aces, and more.

Target also has discounts on Nintendo Switch Online memberships, including a 12-month family membership down to $19.99 from $34.99. For Microsoft, you can get the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (3 months) for $29.99, down from $44.99.

Miscellaneous

• $100 Apple Gift Card - Get a $20 Target gift card with purchase
• Amazon Fire TV Stick - $27.99, down from $39.99
• Amazon Fire TV Stick with 4K - $29.99, down from $49.99
• Anker 2-Port PowerPort Wall Charger - $27.29, down from $38.99
• Anker 10,400 mAh Power Bank - $26.99, down from $29.99
• Anker 15,600 mAh Power Bank - $35.99, down from $39.99
• And more electronics sales...

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals Roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week, and our Black Friday Roundup for all of the latest offers happening this week.

Waze will soon integrate with Apple CarPlay's multiscreen dashboard, according to beta testers on the MacRumors forums.

Although it has not yet been officially announced, the feature already appears to be in beta testing, and according to The Verge, also comes alongside in-app lane guidance for the first time. Waze, which is owned by Google, refused to comment to The Verge on the app's integration with the ‌CarPlay‌ dashboard.

Previously, ‌CarPlay‌ required users to completely change between different app screens to see audio controls and other information while being directed to a destination. With the ‌CarPlay‌ dashboard, users can see a map, guidance information, and other contextual information such as currently playing audio or the calendar simultaneously in a split-screen view. The feature arrived with iOS 13, but only worked with Apple Maps originally. With iOS 13.4, Apple introduced the option for third-party apps to add support for the dashboard mode in their own maps apps.

Developers appear to have been slow to integrate the feature, however, with Google Maps only gaining support for it as recently as in August.

Apple assembly partner Pegatron's board of directors is said to have approved a proposal to spend $150 million to build a manufacturing plant in India.

The new facility is expected to begin production in the second half of next year or in early 2022, with more investments planned in the country over the next two years, reported India's Economic Times, citing unnamed executives.

Pegatron, Apple's second-largest iPhone assembler after Foxconn, registered its India subsidiary in July, and said that the global health crisis had made it hard for staff to visit India, which had resulted in delays. The facility would be the company's first to be established in the country, and would likely be involved in future ‌iPhone‌ assembly.

Pegatron has been cleared to take part in India's billion-dollar Production-Linked Incentive Scheme, which provides incentives on locally-produced smartphones. The Taipei-based assembler joins rival ‌iPhone‌ manufacturers Foxconn and Wistron, which are already signed up to the scheme.

Pegatron recently drew the ire of Apple after it was discovered that the ‌iPhone‌ supplier had been committing labor violations at a student workers' program at its Shanghai and Kunshan campuses in eastern China.

Apple put Pegatron on probation as a result of the violations, and while the supplier's current ‌‌iPhone‌‌ business is not expected to be affected, it could lose some ‌iPhone‌ 12 orders to rival Luxshare next year.

Apple has announced its annual four-day shopping event, offering customers up to a $150 Apple Store gift card with the purchase of select products between Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the United States.

The gift card values in the United States are as follows:

• $150 for 16-inch MacBook Pro
• $150 for 21.5-inch iMac
• $50 for 13-inch MacBook Pro
• $50 for MacBook Air
• $50 for iPhone SE, iPhone 11, or ‌iPhone‌ XR
• $100 for iPad Pro
• $50 for iPad mini
• $100 for HomePod
• $50 for Apple TV 4K
• $50 for ‌Apple TV‌ HD
• $50 for Beats headphones or earphones
• $25 for Apple Watch Series 3
• $25 for AirPods Pro or AirPods (with or without Wireless Charging Case)

Like last year, Apple is excluding some of its latest products, including the ‌iPhone‌ 12 series, Apple Watch Series 4 and newer models, and the new iPad Air, as well as refurbished products, products purchased with an educational discount, and iPhones purchased via the ‌iPhone‌ Upgrade Program. Note that to buy AppleCare+ with one of the gift cards, the purchase has to be done in store. It can't be done online or over the phone.

Apple's four-day shopping event runs November 27 through November 30 on Apple.com, by phone at 1-800-MY-APPLE, and at Apple Stores. Apple's new gift cards can be used for products, accessories, apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, ‌iCloud‌, and more.

The offer will also be available in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and likely several other countries, with gift card amounts varying.

As usual, there are better Black Friday deals on Apple products than what Apple offers itself, so be sure to check out our Black Friday roundup this week for all of the best discounts leading up to the big day. We'll also be highlighting various one-off deals throughout the week.

Twitter's new ephemeral tweets, or "fleets," have been hit by a bug that allows them to be accessed long after their supposed 24-hour expiration time, less than a week after the feature launched.

Fleets are short stories made up of photos or videos with overlaying text. Much like stories on Instagram or Facebook, fleets are located at the top of the Twitter timeline.

According to Techcrunch, the bug allowed fleets to be viewed and downloaded by other users without notifying their creator. Details of the bug were posted in a series of tweets over the weekend. Twitter soon acknowledged the issue and says a fix is on the way.

“We're aware of a bug accessible through a technical workaround where some Fleets media URLs may be accessible after 24 hours," a Twitter spokesperson told TechCrunch. "We are working on a fix that should be rolled out shortly."

The workaround refers to a developer app that could reportedly scrape fleets from public accounts through Twitter's API. However, once Twitter's fix is applied, URLs for fleets won't work whether they're active or expired.

Twitter says it doesn't delete fleets from its servers for up to 30 days, and it may retain fleets for longer if they violate its rules.

Apple appears to be rolling out its Safari webpage translation to more countries. According to iPhoneSoft, iOS users in France have reported gaining access to the feature, and tips sent to MacRumors suggest Mac users in Sweden are also seeing it show up for the first time.

Apple introduced Safari's machine translation earlier this year when it debuted iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur at WWDC in June.

The feature allows users to translate the language of websites viewed in Apple's native browser; it can translate Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

• iOS 14: How to Translate Webpages in Safari on iPhone

Based on the latest information, Apple appears to have remotely enabled the translate option for the two additional countries for users running iOS 14.2.1, and revised version of macOS 11.0.1 Big Sur‌.

Shortly after the launch of Apple's new M1 Macs, we saw reports that attempts to restore and reinstall macOS on those machines right away could result in an installation error that would leave your Mac non-functional.

Specifically, the error message would read: "An error occurred preparing the update. Failed to personalize the software update. Please try again."

Over the weekend, Apple posted detailed instructions for users experiencing this issue. Specifically it seems the issue arises if you erase/restore your Mac before upgrading to macOS Big Sur 11.0.1.

If you erased your Mac with Apple M1 chip before updating to macOS Big Sur 11.0.1, you might be unable to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery. A message might say “An error occurred while preparing the update. Failed to personalize the software update. Please try again.”

Use either of these solutions to reinstall macOS. You should then be able to use macOS Recovery as expected when reinstalling macOS in the future.

Apple suggests that you could create a bootable installer using another Mac. Otherwise, Apple details a more technical 17 step process using Terminal to restore your ‌M1‌ Mac to a functional state.

If you are still having trouble, Apple recommends contacting support, and you can also visit our ongoing forum thread where users are troubleshooting this specific issue.

Apple will drop support for the iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 6s Plus in next year's release of iOS 15, according to a rumor shared today by Israeli site The Verifier.

If the rumor is accurate, that would mean iOS 15 will be compatible with the following Apple devices:

• 2021 iPhone series
• iPhone 12 Pro Max
• iPhone 12 Pro
• iPhone 12 mini
• iPhone 12
• iPhone 11
• iPhone 11 Pro
• iPhone 11 Pro Max
• iPhone XS
• iPhone XS Max
• iPhone XR
• iPhone X
• iPhone 8
• iPhone 8 Plus
• iPhone 7
• iPhone 7 Plus
• iPhone SE (2020)
• iPod touch (7th generation)

The site said last year that iOS 14 would be the last version of iOS that the iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 6s Plus would be compatible with, which wouldn't be a surprise as Apple often provides software updates for approximately four or five years after the release of a new device.

The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus originally launched in September 2015, followed by the iPhone SE in March 2016.

The Verifier doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to accurate leaks with both hits and misses, but it did accurately predict that iOS 14 would be compatible with all iPhones and iPod touch models able to run iOS 13.

There's no word on which iPads will be able to run iPadOS 15, but if iPadOS 15 is compatible with all iPads able to run iPadOS 14, it will work on the iPad Air 2, 3rd-gen iPad Air, iPad mini 4 and 5, 5th, 6th, and 7th-generation iPads, and all iPad Pro models.

In the last of its iPhone 12 series teardowns, iFixit has published its iPhone 12 Pro Max disassembly, which reveals some unique differences in the design of the internals, including the full extent of the larger camera system responsible for the improved low-light performance on Apple's largest ‌iPhone‌ to date.

On opening the ‌iPhone 12 Pro Max‌, the first obvious difference compared to the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro is the presence of an L-shaped battery, which Apple first used in the iPhone 11 Pro Max. That's in contrast to the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro's more rectangular-shaped battery, which rumors suggest Apple used to offset increased costs owing to 5G technology.

The battery in the ‌iPhone 12 Pro Max‌ is still the most capacious in the ‌iPhone‌ 12 series, providing 14.13Wh, compared to the 10.78Wh used in the ‌iPhone‌ 12 and ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro, but still short of the 15.04Wh battery used in the ‌iPhone 11 Pro Max‌.

Moving on, iFixit was most impressed camera package, which is a lot bigger than the one in the ‌iPhone‌ 12 because of Apple's sensor choice.

Sorry to break it to you, but size does matter—at least when it comes to camera sensors. To achieve their alleged 87% improvement in low-light performance, the 12 Pro Max uses the biggest sensor in an iPhone yet.

As the below x-ray of the camera package shows, the standard wide camera (bottom left in the group of three) has a 47% larger 12-megapixel sensor than the ‌iPhone‌ 12, which allows more light to enter, resulting in better photos.

The four magnets surrounding it also underline the presence of Apple's brand-new sensor-shift image stabilization system, which moves the sensor thousands of times a second to compensate for hand shake.

As iFixit notes, most smartphones use lens-based optical image stabilization (OIS) to smooth out jitters, so Apple either decided its own system was a better solution, or it couldn't adequately stabilize the larger version of its new f/1.6 lens.

Elsewhere, iFixit highlights the more compact design of the logic board compared to the ‌iPhone‌ 12, as well as the modular SIM card reader, which is "excellent for repair, if a little oddly placed," and rubber gaskets instead of adhesive to affix the speakers, which makes for a "much easier removal and replacement procedure than in years past."

The ‌‌iPhone‌ 12 and ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro earned a repairability score of 6 out of 10, and the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Max gets the same, thanks to Apple's continued use of proprietary screws, the devices' increases in waterproofing that can complicate repairs, and the increased chance of breakage due to glass on the front and back of the two devices‌.

Universal Electronics has announced its own take on Apple's divisive Apple TV Remote that's "specifically developers and designed" for cable, satellite, and MVPD (multichannel video program distributor) customers, according to the company (via The Verge).

The UEI Remote uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connectivity together with Infrared to provide universal control, and offers ‌Apple TV‌ users content search and control via Siri and a program guide button for live TV viewing functions, along with separate volume and channel rockers and traditional media playback buttons.

In addition to featuring Apple's MFi authentication chip for secure connectivity with ‌Apple TV‌, the remote also packs an accelerometer and ambient light sensor to automatically backlight the keys in low light environments when the remote is picked up or moved.

"We're excited that customers worldwide will soon be able to enjoy this new remote, designed specifically for the growing number of MVPDs offering Apple TV 4K to their subscribers," said Paul Arling, CEO, Universal Electronics Inc. “This remote offers convenient features to quickly access the EPG or channel surf live programming available through the MVPD's app on Apple TV 4K."

Third-party alternatives to Apple's deeply unpopular ‌Apple TV‌ Remote aren't new. Last year we saw Swiss telco Salt launch an alternative remote control for the ‌Apple TV‌ 4K set-top boxes that it includes in its domestic broadband TV bundle. Then, in July, Function101 launched a $30 variant for U.S. the consumer market (there's no ‌Siri‌ button included on that one though).

UEI's remote won't be available for consumers to buy when it launches early next year. Instead, it's being offered directly to cable companies that include an ‌Apple TV‌ 4K as part of a streaming video package.

It was a week full of unboxings this week, with Apple's new M1-based Macs and the HomePod mini making their way into customers' hands for the first time. We're seeing impressive performance from all of the new products, and it'll be super interesting what Apple is able to do with its higher-powered Macs as the transition to Apple Silicon continues.

This week also saw the release of a special iOS 14.2.1 update for the iPhone 12 lineup to address a few early bugs on those devices, and Apple announced a new App Store program that will cut its commission in half for developers who earned under $1 million from the App Store in the previous year. Read on for all of the details on these stories and more!

First Apple M1 Macs Begin Arriving to Customers

The first Macs with Apple's custom M1 chip began arriving to customers Tuesday, and there has been quite a bit of excitement surrounding the launch, as performance has proven to be quite impressive.

Benchmark results have shown that the new MacBook Air with the M1 chip outperforms a high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro, while the new 13-inch MacBook Pro can compile code as fast as a 2019 Mac Pro, all while consuming only a fraction of the battery life of the previous-generation Intel-based 13-inch MacBook Pro.

There are already quite a few popular apps that have been optimized with native support for Apple Silicon, including Pixelmator Pro, Fantastical, BBEdit, Affinity Designer, Twitter, Darkroom, and djay Pro AI. A crowdsourced list of universal Mac apps can be found in the MacRumors forums.

Watch the Apple M1 MacBook Air Blaze Through Opening Every Default App

To further demonstrate just how impressive the M1 chip's performance is, MacRumors forum member iChan shared a video in which he opened every default app in the Dock on the new base model MacBook Air, and the notebook handled the task with ease. We also performed our own tests pitting the new M1 MacBook Air against the equivalent Intel model from earlier this year, and it wasn't much of a contest.

These feats are even more impressive considering that the base model MacBook Air is equipped with just 8GB of memory and has a silent, fanless design, making it exciting to see what Apple will achieve with its M-series chips in higher-end Macs to come.

Rumors suggest that future Apple Silicon Macs will include new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with an all-new form factor as early as Q2 2021, in addition to a redesigned 24-inch iMac and a smaller version of the Mac Pro.

Hands-On With the New HomePod Mini

Apple's new HomePod mini also began arriving to customers this week, and we picked one up to see how it measures up to the full-size HomePod.

‌HomePod mini‌ measures in at just 3.3 inches tall and 3.9 inches wide, so it's a good deal smaller than the standard ‌HomePod‌. Despite its compact design, we were impressed at the sound that the speaker was able to put out.

Priced at $99, the HomePod mini is a more budget-friendly competitor to the Amazon Echo and Google Home, while still offering many features of the full-size HomePod, including Siri, HomeKit integration, Apple Music, Intercom voice messaging, and stereo pairing with another HomePod mini.

Apple Releases iOS 14.2.1 With Fix for Text Message Bug and iPhone 12 Mini Lock Screen Issues

Apple's iPhone 12 models have had a few bugs since their release, and Apple cleaned up several of them this week with the release of iOS 14.2.1, which is only for the iPhone 12 family.

The update fixes a bug that caused some MMS text messages not to be received in both single-person and group chats, and it fixes a bug that caused the Lock Screen of the ‌iPhone 12‌ mini to become unresponsive. It also includes a fix for Made for iPhone hearing devices that were experiencing sound quality issues.

Apple Drops App Store Fees to 15% for All Developers Making Under $1 Million From App Store

Apple this week announced a new App Store Small Business Program that will allow developers who earned up to $1 million in post-commission earnings during the previous calendar year to qualify for a reduced 15% commission on the sale of apps and in-app purchases tied to digital goods and services.

The program is set to launch on January 1, 2021, and Apple will be sharing comprehensive details in early December. In the meantime, Apple outlined the following parameters:

• Existing developers who made up to $1 million in 2020 for all of their apps, as well as developers new to the App Store, can qualify for the program and the reduced commission.
• If a participating developer surpasses the $1 million threshold, the standard commission rate will apply for the remainder of the year.
• If a developer’s business falls below the $1 million threshold in a future calendar year, they can re-qualify for the 15 percent commission the year after.

Apple Investigating Display Issues With iPhone 12 Models

In an internal document for technicians this week, obtained by MacRumors, Apple has acknowledged an issue with some iPhone 12 displays exhibiting flickering, a green or gray glow, or other unintended lighting variations under some conditions.

Apple says that it is aware of customer reports related to this issue and is investigating. Apple has advised technicians to avoid servicing affected iPhones, at least for now, and instead inform customers that they should keep their iPhone up to date with the latest iOS version. This guidance suggests that Apple may be confident that it can fix the issue in a future software update.

A similar green tint issue affected some iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max displays, and Apple was able to fix it in iOS 13.6.1.

MacRumors Newsletter

Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.

So if you want to have top stories like the above recap delivered to your email inbox each week, subscribe to our newsletter!

Apple overnight updated its Windows Migration Assistant software to include compatibility with macOS Big Sur.

As spotted by iMore, version 2.3.0.0 of the utility provides support for users looking to migrate their data from a Windows PC to Apple's latest Mac operating system.

The assistant transfers users' contacts, calendars, email accounts, and more from a Windows machine and migrates the data to the appropriate places in macOS. After the process has been performed, Apple advises users to authorize their Mac for iTunes Store purchases. For more information, consult Apple's updated support article.

Released on November 12, macOS Big Sur‌‌ is a major update that brings a redesigned look to the Mac with an iOS-style Control Center and new widget options. Safari is faster and more battery efficient and there are new privacy protections and a translate option, plus it supports 4K YouTube playback.

Apple has also added updates and new options for Messages, Photos, and Maps, with a list of the major changes available in our features guide and a full rundown of all the changes available in our roundup.

Astropad today announced that its Luna Display and Astropad software have been updated with support for Apple's new M1 Macs.

Luna Display is an adapter that allows a Mac or an iPad to be used as a secondary display for a main Mac, while Astropad is software that lets an ‌iPad‌ be used as a secondary display or drawing tablet for a Mac.

The software updates allow Astropad and Luna Display to run faster on ‌M1‌ Macs with lower encoding times.

Astropad's newest software update includes native support for the ‌M1‌ Macs, and it is available in Astropad Studio 3.6, Astropad Standard 3.6, and Luna Display 4.4.

The software can be downloaded from the Astropad website, but those who already run those apps should see the updates automatically.

Apple today began selling the Leather Sleeve for the new iPhone 12 models, with the accessory having first been announced alongside the updated iPhones in October.

Priced at $129, the Leather Sleeve is not a case and is designed to be removed when the ‌iPhone‌ is in use. It features a cutout at the front that displays the time, and it comes with a matching leather strap. According to Apple, it is made from "specially tanned and finished European leather" that's soft to the touch and develops a patina over time.

The sleeve is designed to fit tightly around the ‌iPhone‌, protecting it from scratches and drops. The inside has a pocket for a credit card or ID, and charging is possible through the sleeve with Apple's MagSafe Charger. Apple warns that as with Leather Cases, the Leather Sleeve is subject to "slight imprints" when used with ‌MagSafe‌ accessories.

Apple sells the Leather Sleeve in Baltic Blue, Pink Citrus, Saddle Brown, and (PRODUCT)RED. It is available for all four of the ‌iPhone‌ 12 models, and orders placed today will deliver starting in mid-December.

Following the release of the M1 Macs Apple executives have been doing interviews with a range of publications, and today, Ars Technica published another interview with software engineering chief Craig Federighi, hardware technologies lead Johny Srouji, and marketing VP Greg Joswiak.

Much of the interview focuses on topics that the three have already covered in prior discussions, but there is an interesting tidbit from Federighi on Microsoft and Windows on the ‌M1‌ Macs. Right now, the ‌M1‌ Macs do not support Windows and there is no Boot Camp feature as there is on Intel Macs, but Windows support is a feature that many would like to see.

Federighi says Windows on ‌M1‌ Macs is "up to Microsoft." The core technologies exist and the Macs are capable of it, but Microsoft has to decide whether to license its Arm-based version of Windows to Mac users.

As for Windows running natively on the machine, "that's really up to Microsoft," he said. "We have the core technologies for them to do that, to run their ARM version of Windows, which in turn of course supports x86 user mode applications. But that's a decision Microsoft has to make, to bring to license that technology for users to run on these Macs. But the Macs are certainly very capable of it."

Federighi also suggested that Windows in the cloud could be a possible solution in the future, and he highlighted CrossOver, which is able to run x86 Windows apps on ‌M1‌ Macs using Rosetta 2.

Federighi, Joswiak, and Srouji also discussed developing the Apple Silicon chips, designing the ‌M1‌, the ‌M1‌'s performance, unified memory architecture, running iOS apps, and more. The full interview can be read over at Ars Technica.