The ceramic Apple Watch Edition dated back to 2014, despite the high-end model not launching until 2016 with the Apple Watch Series 2, according to newly-shared images of a prototype casing.
The images, shared on Twitter by the prototype collector known as "DongleBookPro," show a prototype white ceramic original Apple Watch casing that was manufactured in 2014. The device runs internal software for testing purposes and it was made long before the first release of watchOS, but it looks largely identical to the white ceramic Apple Watch Edition that launched in 2016.
The images of the 2014 prototype show that Apple had reached a far stage of development on the ceramic Apple Watch Edition, but for unclear reasons, the company elected to only offer the original Apple Watch Edition in 18-carat gold, and held back the ceramic casing to replace the gold version in the lineup when the Series 2 launched in 2016.
Apple marketed the ceramic white Apple Watch Edition as a high-end option starting at $1,249, owing to its extremely unique finish.
At the time, Apple lauded the ceramic casing as strong, light, and scratch-resistant, being four times as hard as the stainless steel finish, while also featuring a "pearly, lustrous finish" that is extremely resistant to scratches and tarnishing.
The process of creating the Apple Watch Edition case begins with a high-strength zirconia powder that's combined with alumina to achieve its rich, white color. Each case is then compression molded, sintered, and polished using a diamond slurry, which results in a remarkably smooth surface and an exquisite shine. With this precise level of workmanship, every Apple Watch Edition case takes days to make.
Apple introduced a white ceramic Apple Watch Edition with the Series 2, and went on to expand the ceramic options by introducing a gray version with the Series 3. While there was no ceramic Apple Watch Edition for Series 4 models, Apple revived the high-end white ceramic Edition model for the Series 5. With the latest Apple Watch Series 6, there is again no ceramic version, with the Edition models featuring a cheaper titanium casing only.
Some fans of the unique white finish hope to see a ceramic option for the upcoming Apple Watch Series 7, which is seemingly made more likely by the alternating availability of the model in recent years, but there is no word on whether such a casing will again become available with the launch of the Series 7 later this year.
Apple is "ramping up efforts to decentralize out of Silicon Valley," following difficulties recruiting and retaining talent at its Apple Park headquarters in California, according to Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman.
In the second edition of his new Power On newsletter for Bloomberg, Gurman suggests that Apple is prepared to jettison its tradition of attracting technologists to Cupertino in favor of opening offices in places where operation costs are less high and living costs aren't as prohibitive for its employees.
The company is said to be "losing talent" because employees are struggling to afford the high cost of living in the San Francisco Bay Area, despite being high earners by most standards. Anecdotally, many engineers who have spoken to Gurman have complained that they've been unable to balance living expenses with things like college tuition for their children and long-term savings.
At the same time, under the pressure of being the world's most valuable company, Apple is said to have realized that "it can no longer wait for the best designers and engineers to gravitate toward its spaceship," and must instead go to where those people already live, which would also make building a diverse workforce less difficult.
From Gurman's newsletter:
Some members of Apple's executive team had been pushing to decentralize out of Cupertino for years before a fuller realization came into place more recently. Johny Srouji, Apple's head of custom silicon, was one of the strongest proponents of such a shift, I'm told. His group opened up offices in Florida, Massachusetts, Texas, Israel and parts of Asia years ago. It has since expanded in Germany, Oregon and San Diego.
Eddy Cue, Apple's online services chief, has also pushed for decentralization, investing in multiple Los Angeles offices and a location in Nashville. The chief operating officer, Jeff Williams, has internally discussed the cost benefits of a more global workforce, and Deirdre O'Brien, the retail and HR chief, has evangelized for the diversity benefits.
Decentralization across the company is entering full swing, and Apple has engaged in a costly expansion from the sunny coasts of LA and San Diego to the Pacific Northwest of Oregon and Washington, the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Iowa's Midwest, the Eastern Seaboard of Massachusetts, Miami and New York.
The plans come as Apple prepares to pilot a hybrid work model for its global retail employees that would sometimes allow them to work from home. The move also follows recent reports of corporate staff voicing their displeasure about the company's plan to return to three days of in-person work a week starting in September.
Mobile advertisers are beginning to spend significantly more money targeting Android users thanks to Apple's implementation of a framework on iOS, severely impacting the amount of data companies can collect about users on iPhone and iPad.
As reported by The Wall Street Journal, following the April roll-out of ATT, or the App Tracking Transparency framework, which requires that all apps on iPhone and iPad ask for users consent before tracking their activity across other apps, advertisers have begun to lower their spending on Apple's platform.
According to early data from the ad-measurement firm Branch Metrics Inc, seen by The Journal, less than 33% of iOS users have permitted apps to track them across other apps. The remaining 67% of iOS users opted not to permit apps to track their activity. As a result, the amount of advertiser spending on Apple's mobile platform has fallen by about one-third between June 1 and July 1, while spending on Android rose over 10% for the same month, according to ad-measurement firm Tenjin Inc.
After the tracking change took effect in April, many users of Apple's iOS operating system have received a high volume of prompts from apps asking permission to track them—requests that most have declined. Less than 33% of iOS users opt in to tracking, according to ad-measurement firm Branch Metrics Inc.
As more of that information has emerged, advertisers have adjusted their buying strategies. Spending on iOS mobile advertising has fallen by about one-third between June 1 and July 1, according to ad-measurement firm Tenjin Inc. Android spending rose 10% over the same period, Tenjin said.
Digital-ad agency Tinuiti Inc. has seen a similar pattern in its clients' spending, research director Andy Taylor said. When iOS users opted out of tracking, Tinuiti advertisers couldn't bid on them, he said. That dearth of iOS users drove up demand—and ad prices—for Android users. About 72.8% of smartphones world-wide use the Android operating system, and about 26.4% use iOS, according to Statcounter.
One reason digital advertisers say they're spending less on Apple's mobile platform is due to the lack of "granular data that made mobile ads on iOS devices effective and justified their prices."
Without proper user tracking, advertisers have significantly less data about a user's interests, preferences, and more. Advertisers and companies, such as Facebook, use that data to compile a profile of a user. The type of data collected from tracking helps advertisers to ensure that their ads are being targeted to potential customers
Digital advertisers say they have lost much of the granular data that made mobile ads on iOS devices effective and justified their prices. In recent months, ad-buyers have deployed their iOS ad spending in much less targeted ways than were previously possible, marketers and ad-tech companies say. The shortage of user data to fuel Facebook Inc.'s suite of powerful ad-targeting tools reduces their effectiveness and appeal among some advertisers, ad agencies say
While several advertisers are being impacted by ATT, Facebook has been the most vocal and critical of the new change. Ever since Apple began to beta test the framework, which was shipped as part of the iOS and iPadOS 14.5 updates, Facebook accused Apple of impacting small businesses who rely on advertising as a means of keeping their doors open. Facebook also proclaimed that the framework was anti-competitive because, in its view, it gives Apple an upper hand for running its own mobile advertising business on iOS devices.
Apple has been informed by China's cyberspace regulator that it must remove the Didi Chuxing ride hailing app from the Chinese App Store following concerns about the Uber rival's possible misuse of personal data.
Apple CEO Tim Cook with Didi Chuxing president Jean Liu in 2016
The app in question is owned by Didi Global, which Apple has $1 billion invested in. Bloomberg reports that the ban was announced on Sunday by the Cyberspace Administration of China, citing serious violations on the company's collection and usage of personal information, without going into detail.
The regulator on Sunday ordered Didi to rectify its problems following legal requirements and national standards, and take steps to protect the personal information of its users.
The decision means that Apple and other app store operators on other platforms will have to remove the Didi Chuxing from their listings. The "unusually swift" decision is said to have come just two days after the regulator said it was conducting a cybersecurity review of Didi Global Inc.
The ban was effective immediately, but users who downloaded the app before Sunday are still able to order rides and other services. Didi said it had already halted new user registrations as of July 3 and was now working to rectify its app in accordance with regulatory requirements.
Apple in 2016 invested $1 billion in the Chinese ride-hailing company. The move was described by CEO Tim Cook at the time as a "strategic investment" that would help Apple better understand the Chinese market. Following its investment, Apple was given a Didi Chuxing board seat.
It's unclear what impact the ban could have on Apple's stake in Didi, but the decision follows broader moves by Beijing to curb the influence of China's largest internet corporations and tighten the ownership of the personal data of hundreds of millions of users held by the likes of Alibaba, Tencent, and others.
Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Popular open-source audio editing software Audacity is facing "spyware" allegations from users for recent privacy policy changes that suggest the desktop app is collecting user data and sharing it with third parties, including state regulators where applicable.
Two months ago, Audacity was acquired by Muse Group, which owns other audio-related projects including the Ultimate Guitar website and the MuseScore app. According to Fosspost, changes to the privacy policy section on the Audacity website indicate that several personal data collection mechanisms have since been added by the parent company.
The type of data collected now includes the computer's processor, operating system and version, the user's IP address, and any crash reports, fatal error codes and messages generated by their machine. More concerning perhaps is the inclusion of a vague section listing data that must be collected "for legal enforcement, litigation, and authorities' requests (if any)."
The storage of said data is located in servers in the U.S., Russia, and the European Economic Area. For example, IP addresses are stored in an identifiable way for a day before being hashed and then stored in servers for a year, leaving users identifiable via government data requests.
In addition, the new policy prevents people under the age of 13 from using the software, which is a violation of the GPL license that Audacity uses.
Understandably, the policy changes have upset Audacity users, who have taken to Reddit and GitHub to question why an offline desktop app needs to "phone home" at all, and there is already discussion about forking Audacity into a separate open-source project that's free from the Muse Group's ownership and questionable data collection practices.
The upcoming 2021 iPhone will be named "iPhone 13" with the naming scheme of "mini," "Pro," and "Pro Max" variants for the entire lineup, according to the Economic Daily News.
According to the report, citing sources and "supply chain" checks, Apple plans to market the upcoming iPhones as the "iPhone 13." Furthermore, the report says that Apple will stick with the "mini," "Pro," and "Pro Max" terms for the different variants, all set to launch in September.
From the report (machine translation):
Apple's new iPhone this year has entered the countdown stage of stocking, and the supply chain has reported that this year's new phone will be named iPhone 13. In the assembly order allocation, Hon Hai (2317) is still the big winner, including all orders for the top 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro Max. , 68% of the 6.1-inch iPhone 13 is also handled by Hon Hai, and about 60% of the orders for the 6.1-inch iPhone 13 Pro are also taken by Hon Hai, assisting Hon Hai in the second half of the peak season camp.
According to the supply chain, this year’s new iPhone will return to the situation announced in September of the previous year. The foundry will start shipping in the third quarter, and the peak of the pull will fall in the fourth quarter. Apple will launch four new models, namely the 6.7-inch iPhone 13. Pro Max, 6.1-inch iPhone 13 Pro, and 5.4-inch and 6.1-inch models, also named iPhone 13.
The report follows recent discussion surrounding the name of the upcoming iPhones. A survey indicated that one out of five iPhone and iPad users are put off by the prospect of an "iPhone 13" due to triskaidekaphobia, a fear of the number thirteen. Instead, 38% of survey participants said they would like Apple to drop the corresponding number altogether and name each iPhone release moving forward based on the year, such as iPhone (2021).
Just 13% of iPhone and iPad users surveyed said they would like Apple to name the upcoming iPhone the "iPhone 12S." Apple last used the "S" suffix in an iPhone name with the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max in 2018, one year after the iPhone X. The "S" nomenclature is usually reserved for smaller incremental updates in annual iPhone releases. The iPhone 6S, for example, offered only minor improvements compared to the iPhone 6 a year earlier.
Based on what we know so far, the 2021 iPhone will feature some notable improvements, such as a more advanced display thanks to ProMotion 120Hz variable refresh rate and always-on capabilities. However, Apple may feel that the changes in the new iPhones warrant an entire number increase, rather than simply tacking on an "S" for the first time in three years.
Apple's crackdown on Chinese apps that tried to bypass its new privacy rules has successfully thwarted a coordinated effort to create a new way of tracking iPhones for advertising in the country, according to a new report today.
Introduced in iOS 14.5, Apple's App Tracking Transparency rules require apps that access an iPhone's ad identifier or IDFA must ask a user's permission before tracking is allowed. As reported by the Financial Times in March, however, the change spurred ad and tech groups in China to develop a new way of tracking users without their consent, called CAID.
Along with the state-backed China Advertising Association (CAA), tech groups led by Baidu, Tencent, and TikTok parent ByteDance began testing CAID to see if it would let them identify users even if they refused to let apps use IDFA. Aware of the tests, Apple responded by blocking updates to several Chinese apps that it had caught using CAID in App Store submissions.
According to FT's latest paywalled report, that made the groups involved in testing CAID think again, and the project has since struggled to find support in mainland China and beyond.
Several people in China and Hong Kong said that, following Apple's retaliation, CAID lost support and the whole project failed to gain traction.
"This is a clear victory for Apple, and also consumer privacy, as the tech giants of China have been forced to back down and comply with Apple's rules," said Rich Bishop, chief executive of AppInChina, a leading publisher of international software in China.
"The Chinese app ecosystem was collectively baiting the bull with CAID, under the theory that Apple couldn't afford to ban every major app in the market," added Alex Bauer, head of product marketing at adtech group Branch.
"Apple called their bluff, and seems to have reasserted control over the situation by aggressively rapping knuckles on early adopters, before the consortium gained any real momentum."
ByteDance did not respond to FT's requests for comment, while Tencent and Baidu declined to comment. Apple meanwhile simply reiterated that its "App Store terms and guidelines apply equally to all developers around the world" and that "apps that are found to disregard the user's choice will be rejected".
Despite being backed by the state-backed CAA and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a research institute directly under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, it's not clear if these groups had the full backing of Beijing.
Similarly, it's unknown if all the groups involved knew that use of CAID was a violation of Apple's policies, although some of those involved reportedly said they believed CAID had Apple's "stamp of approval."
Either way, it appears that Apple's early crackdown on apps that tried to circumvent App Tracking Transparency has had the intended effect of discouraging similar attempts, while successfully avoiding a showdown with the Chinese authorities over its wider use.
Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Apple plans to include a "slightly bigger" wireless charging coil in this year's iPhone 13 lineup, which will not only yield improved heat management and higher wattage, but could be paving the way towards reverse wireless charging, according to a new rumor from Max Weinbach (via EverythingApplePro).
According to the rumor, Apple plans to make the physical wireless charging coil in this upcoming iPhone larger, which would increase the surface area of where wireless charging can be induced. Weinbach had previously reported that the 2021 iPhones will feature stronger MagSafe magnets, which in today's rumor, he reiterates could be a reason behind the increased coil size.
Weinbach also speculates that the increased coil size could be used for reverse wireless charging, which would enable users to charge wireless charging compatible devices, such as AirPods, by placing them on the back of the iPhone.
In February, Bloomberg'sMark Gurman stated that reverse wireless charging capabilities are unlikely to come to the iPhone in the "near future." Despite Apple holding off on officially announcing the feature, FCC filings for the 2020 iPhone revealed earlier this year that all models of the iPhone 12 lineup include the ability to reverse wirelessly charge other devices, such as AirPods (second generation), AirPods Pro, or newer Apple Watch models.
More recently, Bloomberg reported that Apple is planning reverse wireless charging capabilities for the next-generation iPad Pro in 2022. Reverse wireless charging does significantly drain a device's battery, and Apple may feel as though that the feature would make more sense in an iPad Pro, thanks to its larger battery, compared to an iPhone.
Happy public beta week! This week saw the release of a complete set of public betas for Apple's major upcoming operating system updates, giving everyone the chance to check out all of the new features and changes.
We also saw a slew of rumors on everything from the iPhone 13 and the MacBook Pro to AirPods and the Apple Watch Series 7, so check out our video above and read on below for details on all of these stories and more!
iOS 15 and macOS Monterey Public Betas Now Available
Apple had said at WWDC that the public betas would launch in July, but all of them except macOS Monterey arrived just a bit early on June 30. A word of warning though: Don't install these betas on a primary device, or at least make sure to have a backup, as there can be significant bugs and usability issues.
Latest iPhone 13 Dummies Again Show New Diagonal Dual-Lens Camera Arrangement Coming to Standard Model
It's a rite of passage as we get closer to the introduction of new iPhone models: We've moved beyond the leaks and design drawings to full-fledged dummy units that show off what we expect to see from the iPhone 13.
DigiTimes: Apple to Announce Redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro in September
Many Apple fans were disappointed at the lack of an announcement about redesigned MacBook Pro models at WWDC last month, but we won't have too much longer to wait if a new report is accurate.
Taiwanese site DigiTimes says the new models will be announced in September, although October might be more likely as Apple prefers to separate its iPhone and Mac announcements and the new iPhones are expected to return to their normal September launch timing.
Kuo: AirPods Pro 2 to Launch Next Year, AirPods Shipments to Exceed 100 Million
We've been hearing rumors about updated AirPods models for some time, and the most recent claims are continuing to hint at timing for these releases.
Apple Shares List of Products to Keep Safe Distance Away From Pacemakers
Since the launch of MagSafe alongside the iPhone 12 last year, some health experts have been warning about the potential risks of bringing products containing magnets close to pacemakers and other medical devices.
Redesigned Apple Watch Series 7 Could Prioritize Longer Battery Life Over Additional Sensors
The Apple Watch Series 7 coming later this year is expected to feature a redesign with flat edges and display improvements, but one thing that's been up in the air is whether we'll see any new health-related sensors.
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.
Apple made some major improvements to the Photos app in iOS 15, adding some long-awaited and requested features along with unique capabilities that enable you to do more with your images than ever.
There's a new Memories feature that lets you relive your favorite moments, metadata info can be viewed and edited, Visual Lookup lets you identify plants, landmarks, and more, and with Live Text, you can copy and paste the text from any image on your iPhone. This guide highlights all of the new features that are available in the Photos app.
Memories
The Memories section of the Photos app has been overhauled in iOS 15, making it easier than ever to resurface your favorite memories.
The Memories feature has a new look that includes animated cards with adaptive titles, new animation and transition styles, and multiple image collages for a more cinematic feel. There are new memory looks that are added to Memories based on each photo and video, with Apple using machine learning to apply the right contrast and color adjustment for a consistent look. Apple says that this feature is designed to mimic what colorists at film studios do.
When playing a Memory, there's an interactive interface that lets you tap to pause, replay the last photo, skip to the next photo, or jump ahead, with the music designed to keep playing. Changing a song, removing or adding photos, or adjusting a Memory look is done in realtime with no need to recompile. To make it easier to make adjustments to Memories, there's a new Browse view so you can see all of the photos and videos in a bird's eye view.
When creating and viewing Memories, the Photos app has always supported integrated music, but now Apple Music subscribers can choose to add any Apple Music song to a Memory.
The Memories feature makes personalized Apple Music song suggestions based on your music tastes and the content of your photos and videos. Song suggestions can include songs that were popular at the time and location of the memory, songs that you listened to while you were traveling, or a song from an artist if the memory includes a concert.
You can customize a Memory by swiping through various Memory mixes, which lets you experiment with different songs, pacing, and Memory looks.
There are new kinds of Memories that are built from your Photos library, with Apple adding new international holidays, child-focused memories, and trends over time. Pet Memories have been improved and iOS devices can recognize individual dogs and cats.
Watch Next
After you've finished a Memory, Memories will suggest related content so that you can keep going through your photo content.
Suggest Less Often
If there's someone popping up in your Memories or in Featured Photos, you can use a new quick access "Feature Less" button to see less of that specific person.
This "Feature Less" option also works for dates, places, and holidays.
Any text that's in a photograph or an image on your iPhone is now recognized by the iPhone through the new Live Text feature.
Text that is in a photo is selectable, can be copied and pasted, can be used with the Lookup feature, and can even be translated. You can take a photo of an item that has text in a foreign language and have it translated right from the photo.
This works with all of the images in the Photos app, and is also compatible with screenshots, Safari, and the live camera viewer.
In certain photos, the iPhone can now recognize various objects, landmarks, animals, books, plants, works of art, and more. If you have a photo of a flower on your iPhone, for example, you can use Visual Lookup to determine what it might be based on a web search of images that Apple conducts automatically.
When viewing an image, if the "I" icon has a little star over it, it means there's a Visual Lookup you can examine. Tap on the Info icon and then tap on the little leaf icon to open up a search.
In iOS 15, if you tap on the new "Info" icon below a photo, you can view the camera that was used to take it, the lens, shutter speed, megapixels, size, aperture, and more, which is all of the EXIF info you can get from the desktop Photos app.
In this interface, you can add captions and adjust the date and time of a photo through an added "Adjust" button. Prior to iOS 15, none of this information was available on iOS devices.
Apple says that when you upgrade to a new device, iCloud Photos syncs more quickly than before, making it faster than ever for you to get access to your photo library.
People Identification and Naming Improvements
The "People" album on the iPhone has improved recognition for the various individuals that are in your pictures, and the iOS 15 Photos app is able to detect people in extreme poses, people wearing accessories, and people with occluded faces.
Apple has also added a full workflow for correcting naming mistakes. When selecting a person, if you tap on the "..." icon and then choose "Manage Tagged Photos," you can untag any photos that might not be that person. This is also the interface used to tag additional photos if iOS finds untagged images.
The Photos image picker that's available across iOS lets you select photos in a certain order for sharing purposes, so if you have a photo sequence, you can be sure they're shared in the order that you intend.
Shared With You
If someone shares a photo or video with you in the Messages app, it will show up in a new "Shared With You" section in the Photos app.
If it's a photo that was taken when you were present, it will appear in the All Photos view and in the Days, Months, and Years view, as well as in Featured Photos and Memories.
Photos in the Shared With You section can easily be saved to the Photos Library, and you can respond to a message with a tap right from the Photos app.
In iOS 15, you can search through your entire Photos library using Spotlight. You can search by locations, people, scenes, or things in the photos like plants or pets thanks to Visual Lookup.
Update: Due to the unexpected success of the Theodore Standing Desk, Flexispot has sold out until September. As a result, the giveaway prize has shifted to the Esben Standing Desk, which a lucky MacRumors reader will receive.
The Esben works just like the Theodore as an adjustable standing desk, but it does have a more modern design aesthetic with two drawers for more storage space. The Esben also has a compact design that works well in any home office situation, measuring in at 48 inches long, 24 inches wide, and 5.1 inches deep. It too has built-in USB ports, including two USB-A ports and a USB-C port, along with easy adjustment controls for raising or lowering the height at a 29.5 to 49.2 inch range.
For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Flexispot to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a Theodore Standing Desk, which is an ideal flexible workspace for Apple device users.
Flexispot offers a whole range of home office furniture and accessories, but it is best known for its height adjustable standing desk options, which are available at a variety of price points.
The Theodore Standing Desk has a classic, elegant design but it is able to meet modern workspace needs with an adjustable height that ranges from 29.5 inches to 49.2 inches. There are controls on the front of the desk for quick adjustments to meet your needs throughout the day, and the motion is handled by a powerful motor built into the desktop.
Made with a solid wood design and a walnut veneer, the Theodore has a timeless design that's ideal for a home office space. At the right side of the desk, there are convenient built-in USB ports, including two USB-A ports and a USB-C port that support fast charging at 18W so you can power your iOS devices right from the desk itself. In the center, there's a pull-out drawer able to hold accessories, and it is sized generously at 21.8 inches wide, 11 inches long, and 2.6 inches deep.
Flexispot designed the Theodore with a quick three-step assembly process that involves installing the tabletop, the desk feet, and connecting the power cords, a process that takes mere minutes after it arrives.
Priced at $499, the Theodore Standing Desk measures in at 47.6 inches long and 23.6 inches wide, with a desk depth of 4.5 inches. The size makes it ideal for small working spaces. The Theodore Standing Desk can hold up to 99lbs, so it will hold your Mac and a couple of displays and other items.
Flexispot is providing a Theodore Standing Desk for a lucky MacRumors reader. To enter to win our giveaway, 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 MacRumorsFacebook 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 2) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on July 9. The winner will be chosen randomly on July 9 and will be contacted by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before a new winner is chosen.
In ongoing antitrust discussions about App Store competition, Apple has maintained that allowing users to install apps outside of the App Store would have dire privacy consequences, but European Union digital competition chief Margrethe Vestager said today that Apple must not use privacy excuses to limit competition.
In an interview with Reuters, Vestager said that privacy and security are of "paramount importance," but she does not believe that customers would be sacrificing security when sideloading an app.
The important thing here is, of course, that it's not a shield against competition, because I think customers will not give up neither security nor privacy if they use another app store or if they sideload.
Vestager has been working on the Digital Markets Act in Europe, which would require Apple to let iPhone and iPad users download apps from third-party App Stores or from the internet. Apple CEO Tim Cooksaid in June that the proposed rules around sideloading apps would destroy the security of the iPhone and the privacy initiatives that have been built into the App Store.
On the topic of the DMA, Vestager said that she is open to changes, and that she believes it is possible to "find solutions," but it is likely that Apple will continue to fight heavily against alternate app stores or sideloading apps.
Vestager also said that she supports Apple's recent App Tracking Transparency privacy changes and has no issue with the functionality because it's an option available to everyone.
As I have said, I think actually several times, that it is a good thing when providers give us the service that we can easily set our preferences if we want to be tracked outside the use of an app or not as long as it's the same condition for everyone. So far, we have no reason to believe that this is not the case for Apple.
Should the Digital Markets Act go on to become law, Apple will have to make major changes to its iPhone and iPad platform to accommodate the requirement to allow for non-App Store apps. Apple is also facing similar legislation in the United States, with U.S. House lawmakers in June introducing antitrust bills that would result in major changes to the tech industry if passed.
Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Qualcomm Chief Executive Cristiano Amon believes that Qualcomm will provide laptop chips that can compete with Apple silicon by next year and has explained how the company views Apple's expected transition to its own custom modems.
Speaking to Reuters, Amon said that Qualcomm is capable of having the best chip on the market, thanks to a team of chip architects who previously worked for Apple but have since come to Qualcomm.
Earlier this year, Qualcomm acquired the chip startup company Nuvia for $1.4 billion, which was founded by a number of Apple chip designers. Qualcomm will begin selling custom silicon Nuvia-based laptop chips in 2022, which are expected to boast impressive power consumption for extended battery life.
Instead of using core designs licensed from Arm, Qualcomm is looking to use a completely custom core design for its chips, like Apple, to rival Apple silicon. Should Arm develop a better CPU than Qualcomm, Amon said that the company will seek to license the better architecture directly from Arm to ensure that its chips are industry-leading.
Apple is currently a major customer of Qualcomm, with the Qualcomm modem chips being used in all iPhone 12 models. It has been widely reported that Apple is in the process of developing its own custom in-house modem to displace Qualcomm's component, with the first Apple modems appearing in new iPhone models as soon as 2023.
Amon addressed the threat posed by Apple developing its own in-house modems, meaning that Qualcomm would lose Apple as a customer. Most immediately, Amon explained that Qualcomm has decades of experience designing modem chips, which would make it difficult for any rival to replicate its technology.
He added that "the Huawei addressable market is as big as the Apple opportunity is for us," suggesting that Qualcomm may be able to mitigate the loss of Apple as a client by taking up the void left in the Android market, which has been created by the banning of Huawei in the United States.
If you've installed iOS 15 or iPadOS 15 through Apple's developer program or the public beta now it's been released, you may decide you want to downgrade because of usability or stability issues. Keep reading to learn how it's done.
Apple usually only releases the public betas of iOS and iPadOS once the developer versions are relatively stable. That said, Apple's beta versions of its major software updates can be notoriously buggy, especially the early releases.
You may find apps not working properly, poor battery life, device crashes, and features that don't do what they're supposed to. Fortunately, you can restore your iPhone or iPad to the previous version of iOS.
If you made an archived backup before you installed the beta, you can remove the iOS 15 beta and restore the backup. If you didn't make a backup, you can still downgrade, but you won't be able to restore your device to its original state before you upgraded.
Also, if you've installed watchOS 8 on your Apple Watch, it's important to note that you won't be able to use it with your iPhone once you've gone back to iOS 14. And downgrading an Apple Watch to a previous version of watchOS can't be done manually either – if you want to remove watchOS 8, you'll have to send your watch in to Apple.
How to Downgrade from iOS 15 or iPadOS 15
Launch Finder on your Mac.
Connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac using a Lightning cable.
Put your device into recovery mode. The method of doing this depends on your device, so check the list below these steps to find your model. Apple also provides more information on Recovery mode in this support article.
A dialog will pop up asking if you want to restore your device. Click Restore to wipe your device and install the latest public release of iOS or iPadOS.
Wait while the restore process completes.
How to Enter Recovery Mode on Your iOS Device
iPad models with Face ID: Press and quickly release the Volume Up button. Press and quickly release the Volume Down button. Press and hold the Top button until your device begins to restart. Continue holding the Top button until your device goes into recovery mode.
iPhone 8 or later: Press and quickly release the Volume Up button. Press and quickly release the Volume Down button. Then, press and hold the Side button until you see the recovery mode screen.
iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, and iPod touch (7th generation): Press and hold the Top (or Side) and Volume Down buttons at the same time. Keep holding them until you see the recovery mode screen.
iPad with Home button, iPhone 6s or earlier, and iPod touch (6th generation) or earlier: Press and hold both the Home and the Top (or Side) buttons at the same time. Keep holding them until you see the recovery mode screen.
One you've followed the above steps, you can restore a backup of your device from iOS 14 or iPadOS 14 using your Mac or iCloud.
Apple and Amazon are facing antitrust disciplinary proceedings in Spain for possible restrictive competition practices around the sale of Apple products, it has emerged.
In a press release, the country's National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) said it had initiated the proceedings against both companies for "possible anti-competition practices in the sectors of Internet sales of electronic products and the provision of marketing services to third-party retailers through online platforms."
The independent consumer interest body said it had access to "certain information" from which it had found "rational indications" that Amazon and Apple are in breach of laws related to the defense of competition and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Specifically:
The possible unlawful conduct would consist of an agreement between both groups that would include possible restrictions on the Amazon website in Spain regarding:
(i) The retail sale of APPLE products by third parties; (ii) Certain advertising of competing Apple products and certain campaigns directed at Apple customers by Amazon; (iii) Other commercial restrictions.
The CNMC announcement does not prejudge the final result of the investigation, which will occur over a maximum period of 18 months before a final resolution is made.
Twitter is considering letting users post select tweets for "Trusted Friends" only. That's the name of a feature the social media platform is testing that would allow users to limit the audience for specific content to a smaller circle of people.
Based on design concepts shared by the company (via TechCrunch), Trusted Friends could be a toggle that lets you indicate whether a tweet should be made public or be shown to just a handful of users. The idea is similar to Instagram's "Close Friends" feature, which lets users share personal Stories more privately.
Bringing the option to Twitter would allow users who have multiple Twitter accounts separating their personal and professional lives to tweet from a single account and have greater control of who sees what on their timeline. It could also mean some users no longer have to toggle between public and protected tweets.
Twitter recently announced new ways for creators and influencers to deliver content to specific users who pay to access its "Super Follow" feature, and Trusted Friends feels like an experimental extension of the idea that would be available to all users. But it's just a concept for now, and there's no guarantee Twitter will ever take it live.
Other concepts Twitter says it is looking into include "Facets," which would give other users the ability to choose whether they wanted to follow all a user's tweets, or only those about the "facet" they're interested in, and an ability for users to list specific phrases that they don't want to see in replies.
As with Trusted Friends, neither of these features are currently in active development and Twitter is simply seeking feedback to gauge whether they're worth pursuing or not.
Apple will launch an iPad next year featuring a processor based on chipmaking partner TSMC's next-generation 3-nanometer process, according to a new report today from Nikkei Asia.
Apple and Intel are testing their chip designs with TSMC's 3-nanometer production technology, according to several sources briefed on the matter, with commercial output of such chips expected to start in the second half of next year.
Apple's iPad will likely be the first devices powered by processors made using 3-nm technology, sources said. The next generation of iPhones, which are to roll out next year, are expected to make use of the intermediate 4-nm tech for scheduling reasons.
According to TSMC, 3nm technology can increase processing performance by 10% to 15% compared to 5nm tech, while reducing power consumption by 25% to 30%.
If today's report is accurate, this would be the second time in recent years that Apple has debuted new chip technology in an iPad before using it in its flagship smartphones.
Apple is using its latest 5-nanometer chip technology in the current iPad Air, which launched in September, with the tablet equipped with a 6-core A14 Bionic chip. Apple doesn't often use new chip technology in an iPad before it debuts in an iPhone, but that is what happened in 2020 due to the delayed release of the iPhone 12 models. The iPhone 12 also features the same A14 Bionic chip.
The latest iPad Pro models, which launched in April, feature the powerful M1 chip, which first debuted in Apple Silicon Macs last year. The M1 chip is based on the same 5nm architecture as the iPhone 12 series and iPad Air.
Whether Apple debuts the next-gen 3nm chip technology in an iPad Air or iPad Pro is unclear, although the timing looks likely to favor the iPad Pro. Apple typically updates the iPad Pro every 12 to 18 months, which could see a next-generation model appear in the second half of 2022.
That would put the iPad Pro close to the timeframe reported for the commercial use of 3nm, whereas production on a next-generation iPad Air with an OLED display is rumored to start in the fourth quarter of this year, with a launch to happen in early 2022.
According to Nikkei's sources, the chip volume planned for Intel is more than that for Apple's iPad using the 3nm process. Intel is said to be relying heavily on TSMC until it can get its own in-house technology back on track. Intel has delayed the introduction of its own 7nm technology to around 2023, while the release of its latest 10nm Xeon processors has been pushed forward into the second quarter of next year.
As for Apple's iPhone 13, expected in September, Apple will use a 5nm+ A15 chip. The 5nm+ process, referred to by TSMC as N5P, is the "performance-enhanced version" of its 5nm process that will deliver additional power efficiency and performance improvements. Today's report also backs a previous one claiming that the A16 chip in 2022 iPhones will be manufactured based on TSMC's future 4nm process.
Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced in March 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari.
Safari Technology Preview release 127 includes bug fixes and performance improvements for CSS, Scrolling, JavaScript, Media, WebRTC, WebAPI, Accessibility, and Rendering.
The current Safari Technology Preview release is built on the new Safari 15 update included in macOS Monterey, and as such, it includes several Safari 15 features. There's a new streamlined tab bar with support for Tab Groups to organize tabs, along with improved support for Safari Web Extensions.
Live Text allows users to select and interact with text in images on the web, but the macOS Monterey beta and an M1 Mac is required. There's also Quick Notes support for adding links and Safari highlights to remember important information and ideas.
Other updates include WebGL 2 and new HTML, CSS, and JavaScript features.
The new Safari Technology Preview update is available for both macOS Big Sur and macOS Monterey, the newest version of the Mac operating system that's set to release this fall.
Apple's aim with Safari Technology Preview is to gather feedback from developers and users on its browser development process. Safari Technology Preview can run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser and while designed for developers, it does not require a developer account to download.
Popular open-source audio editing software 
