MacRumors

Apple today sent out emails informing iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac users about a new spring Apple Pay promotion, which offers discounts for a number of stores through May 26.

Apple Pay users can get discounts at stores like PacSun, Persol, and Under Armour, with a full list of deals available below.

• Alice + Olivia - 20% off when spending $250 or more with promo code APPLEPAY. Deal is available on the website and in-store.
• Bern - 10% off bike, water, skate helmets, and more with promo code APPLEPAY when using the Bern website.
• Costa Del Mar - 25% off full-priced sunglasses, shirts, and more with promo code APPLEPAY.
• PacSun - An extra 10% off select styles with promo code APPLEPAY at PacSun.com.
• Persol - 25% off full-priced eyewear with promo code APPLEPAY.
• Under Armour - 25% off all purchases in the Under Armour app.
• Vineyard Vines - $25 off clothing and accessories when spending $150 or more.

These deals will be available through 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on May 26, and getting the discount requires checking out with ‌Apple Pay‌ either on the website or in an applicable app.

Apple shipped an estimated 5.7 million notebook computers in the first calendar quarter of 2021, according to new notebook PC shipping estimates shared today by Strategy Analytics.

Mac notebooks include the MacBook Pro models and the MacBook Air models, excluding the Mac mini, Mac Pro, and iMac.

Apple was the number four worldwide notebook vendor, trailing behind Dell, HP, and Lenovo, with all three companies shipping between 10 and 16 million notebooks during the quarter.

Apple's 5.7 million notebooks shipped is up 94 percent from the 2.9 million that it shipped in the year-ago quarter, with the strong growth coming from continued Mac demand as people work from home and begin the transition to hybrid home working models.

Apple's market share for the quarter was at 8.4 percent, up from 7.8 percent last year. Lenovo and HP continue to be market leaders, shipping a variety of PC notebooks running Windows alongside Chromebooks, which saw strong growth in the education sector.

Total notebook PC shipments were up 81 percent year over year among all major vendors, but Apple in particular may have seen major growth thanks to the November launch of the M1 13-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ and ‌MacBook Air‌, both of which vastly outperform prior Intel models without price increases.

Apple will likely sustain its Mac growth as it prepares to introduce even more powerful Apple silicon machines later in the year. Rumors suggest there are upgraded 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ models in the works, plus we're still waiting on a higher-end larger version of the ‌iMac‌. Apple is also expected to introduce a new ‌MacBook Air‌ and a new ‌MacBook Pro‌, but those might not come until 2022.

Apple's App Tracking Transparency feature is designed to allow users to opt out of the surreptitious tracking that third-party apps have traditionally relied on for ad targeting purposes. But tracking can go on in your email inbox, too.

Unsolicited marketing emails will sometimes know whether you've opened their email, and if so, when you did so. They can even know where you were at the time, thanks to tracking methods employed by marketing platforms like MailChimp.

The way they track is very discreet and kind of creepy. Embedded in the email will be a tracking pixel, often hidden within a signature image or a link. When the message is opened in your email client, code within the pixel silently sends this information back to the company.

Some email account providers attempt to limit this sort of tracking by routing images through proxy servers, for example, which hides your location. But there's actually a simple way of preventing tracking pixels altogether, and that's by disabling the automatic loading of images in your email client.

The following steps show you how to disable automatic image loading in Apple Mail for macOS, and below them, you'll find instructions to do the same in iOS.

1. Launch Apple Mail.
2. Select Mail -> Preferences from the menu bar.
   
   

3. Click the Viewing tab.
4. Uncheck the box next to Load remote content in messages.
   

If you're using Mail for iPhone or iPad, you can find the same setting in the Settings app. Tap Mail, look under "Messages," and turn off the toggle next to Load Remote Images.

In April 2021, Apple revealed the second-generation Apple TV 4K, bringing high framerate HDR to the Apple TV for the first time and the A12 chip for improved performance, alongside a redesigned Siri Remote.

This model replaced the first-generation ‌Apple TV‌ 4K released in 2017. Although the both of these ‌Apple TV‌ 4K models have now been discontinued by Apple, it is not unusual to find them available at discounted prices with third-party retailers. Some other users who already have the first-generation ‌Apple TV‌ 4K‌ may also be wondering if it is worth the upgrade to the second-generation model.

Should you consider purchasing the first-generation ‌Apple TV‌ 4K to save money, or do you need the second-generation ‌Apple TV‌ 4K? Our guide answers the question of how to decide which of these two ‌Apple TV‌ set-top boxes is best for you.

Comparing the First and Second-Generation Apple TV 4K

The first and second-generation ‌Apple TV‌ 4K models share the same design and a number of key features such as support for resolutions up to 2160p, Dolby Vision, and HDR10:

Similarities

• Design, dimensions, and weight
• 2160p, 1080p, 720p, 576p, 480p over HDMI (HDCP capable)
• SDR, HDR10, Dolby Vision
• Supports audio output up to 7.1.4 channels and Dolby Atmos
• HDMI-CEC
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Bluetooth 5
• AirPlay 2
• Available in 32GB and 64GB storage configuration options

There are a large number of important differences between the first-generation ‌Apple TV‌ 4K and the second-generation ‌Apple TV‌ 4K that are worth highlighting, including their processors and remote controls.

Differences

Read on for a closer look at each of these aspects, and see what exactly both of the ‌Apple TV‌ 4K models have to offer.

➜ Click here to read more...

The Blue 24-inch iMac is the most popular color, a significant number of AirTag users intend to track pets and people, and most users want to stick with the Lightning port, according to the findings of an extensive survey by SellCell.

SellCell's Apple 2021 New Products Survey offers insights into consumer behaviors and thoughts about Apple's latest devices, including AirTags, the 24-inch ‌iMac‌, and the iPad Pro, as well as what customers want from future Apple devices. SellCell surveyed over 3,000 iPhone and iPad owners, aged 18 years or older, based in the United States to gather its data.

Only 14 percent of respondents intended to buy the 24-inch ‌iMac‌ with the M1 chip. Among 24-inch ‌iMac‌ buyers, Blue is the most popular color option, with 33.4 percent, Silver the second most popular with 30.1 percent, and then Green with 13.4 percent. The least popular color options are Yellow with 6.8 percent, Pink with 4.1 percent, and Orange with 3.3 percent. This suggests that the majority of ‌iMac‌ customers are not interested in most of the new color options.

61 percent of ‌iPhone‌ and ‌iPad‌ users intend to buy an ‌AirTag‌. 54 percent feel that the ‌AirTag‌ is a good deal, while 32 percent feel it is reasonably priced. Just 14 percent feel that it is overpriced. Among ‌AirTag‌ buyers, 57 percent are opting for the $99 four-pack option, with the other 43 percent buying them individually for $29, showing a fairly even split.

42.4 percent of ‌AirTag‌ buyers intend to track their keys, 34.8 percent intend to track pets despite Apple disavowing this, 30.6 percent want to track luggage, 25.8 percent intend to track bikes, and 23.3 percent want to track their purse or wallet. Other popular intended uses include tracking AirPods cases, children, vehicles, drones, partners, and TV remotes.

24.9 percent of respondents intend to buy the new ‌iPad Pro‌ with the ‌M1‌ chip. In spite of the Liquid Retina XDR mini-LED display on the 12.9-inch model, 66 percent of respondents intend to buy the smaller 11-inch model, which has the same LED display as the previous generation model.

Looking to the future, a massive 82 percent of respondents want to see Face ID authentication added to future iMacs and MacBooks. For Apple's upcoming ‌iPhone‌ 13 lineup, 21 percent want the return of Touch ID. 17 percent desire a 120Hz ProMotion display and 15 percent want a smaller notch or a notch-less design. 12 percent think that the return of a power adapter included in the box is the most important potential feature.

Interestingly, only five percent of respondents want a smaller, more compact ‌iPhone‌, just one percent want a foldable design, and there also seems to be little appetite to move to USB-C, with only 0.8 percent wanting the removal of the Lightning port.

For as long as it's existed, Google Photos has offered free unlimited storage for uploading images at a reduced yet good enough quality for most users. From June 1, 2021, however, all photos and videos uploaded to Google accounts will count against users' cloud storage. If you've been relying on Google to back up your media library, it may be time to move that content elsewhere. This article shows you how.

High Quality vs Original Quality Uploads

Google Photos has traditionally offered two storage options: "Original Quality," for which photos count against your storage quota, and "High Quality," which is the free and unlimited option, although it shrinks images bigger than 16 megapixels and videos over 1080p.

Whichever option you rely on, from next month both of these options will count against your Google cloud storage allocation. That could present a problem if you rely on the 15GB of free storage that comes with every Google account, or even if you already pay Google for extra storage.

What Does That Mean for My Existing Uploads?

It's important to note that any "High Quality" images already uploaded before June 1 will be exempt from this change and won't count against your storage quota, but anything uploaded after that date will eat up your allowance, so unless you plan on upping your Google storage with a paid plan, it may be time to export your photos and store them elsewhere. If you're already invested in Apple's ecosystem, iCloud is the obvious choice.

Google One storage costs $2/month for 100GB, $3/month for 200GB, and $10/month for 2TB, with discounted annual payment options also available. As for Apple's iCloud, storage options are $1/month for 50GB, $3/month for 200GB, and $10/month for 2TB. Apple One bundles also include storage allowances alongside other digital services like Apple Music, Apple Arcade, and Apple TV+.

How to Export Your Google Photos

By using the Share option in the Google Photos app, you can export individual images from Google Photos, but if you're looking for a bulk-export option, the following steps walk through the process.

1. Using a desktop browser, navigate to takeout.google.com and sign in using your Google account credentials.
2. Under "Create a New Export," in the section titled "Select Data to include," click Deselect all.
   
   

3. Scroll down to Google Photos and check the relevant box, then scroll to the bottom and click the Next step button.
   
   

4. Choose your export file type, frequency, and destination, then click the Create export button.
   

Once the request has been made, you'll see an "Export progress" message. The time it takes for your export to finish depends on the size of your media library, but Google will send an email to let you know when it's ready. Alternately, leave the page open and you'll see a Download button when the export is ready.

Once you've received your exported images, you can drag them into the Photos app on your Mac. To ensure the changes are synced to your Apple devices, check that iCloud Photos is turned on: You can find the switch in he iCloud tab in Photos' preferences (click Photos -> Preferences in the menu bar). Note that you can also upload photos via a browser by going to the iCloud Photos section on the icloud.com website.

Popular image editor Pixelmator Pro has announced a time-limited $19.99 sale on the app, offering customers 50% off the usual $39.99 selling price.

In conjunction with the sale, the developers are also sharing a sneak peak at an upcoming Pixelmator Pro 2.1 update, which includes a new AI-driven cropping feature called ML crop.

ML crop analyzes the composition of photos using a machine learning algorithm and gives the user a suggestion for how they could crop the photo to make it more eye-catching, offering different perspectives for a common photo editing task.

In other changes coming with version 2.1, users will be able to quickly see and set their primary and secondary colors, and there will also be a way to change the color of any object in a document using a drag and drop action.

Pixelmator is a Universal app, so it runs natively on both ‌M1‌ and Intel-based Macs. Updates to the image editing app are free for existing users of Pixelmator Pro, which can be downloaded directly from the Mac App Store.

Ahead of their expected launch on May 21, some brand new M1 iPad Pro orders have begun switching to a "Shipped" status.

Multiple readers of MacRumors have shared with us their updated order for their brand new iPads which now shows a "Shipped" status, rather than "Preparing to ship." Interestingly, despite the new iPad Pros now shipping for a few customers, reviews and hands-on of the newest M1-powered device have yet to be published.

The new ‌iPad‌ has proven to be popular, with some shipping estimates slipping into mid-July. The higher-end 12.9-inch model features an all-new mini-LED display compared to the traditional LED display used in the smaller 11-inch variant. Both sizes boast the Apple silicon ‌M1‌ chip, first launched in November in the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini.

Apple has said the new ‌M1‌ ‌iPad Pro‌ and 24-inch iMac will be available in the second half of May but have yet to confirm a specific date officially. Despite their lack of an official announcement, typically made through a Newsroom update, the company accidentally confirmed May 21 as a launch date in the metadata of a previous Newsroom post. In addition, orders for the new ‌iPad‌ estimated arrival dates as early as Friday, May 21.

Apple has fired Antonio García Martínez, an ex-Facebook product manager and author of the controversial book "Chaos Monkeys," following public and internal calls for removal and investigation due to past misogynistic statements, The Verge reports.

Apple hired Martínez earlier this week to join its ads team, however, comments that Martínez made in the past sparked condemnation from users across social media and employees internally at Apple.

In a statement, Apple says that it highly values the diversity of its team and that those who pose a risk to its values will not be welcomed at the company.

At Apple, we have always strived to create an inclusive, welcoming workplace where everyone is respected and accepted. Behavior that demeans or discriminates against people for who they are has no place here.

A petition amongst Apple staffers, calling for his dismissal, called past remarks "misogynistic," and that his hiring "calls into question parts of our system of inclusion at Apple, including hiring panels, background checks, and our process to ensure our existing culture of inclusion is strong enough to withstand individuals who don’t share our inclusive values," according to The Verge.

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.

In the ongoing legal battle between Apple and Epic Games, the two companies are this week calling up their expert witnesses to argue their points before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who will make a decision in the case after a three week trial.

Expert testimony is not as exciting as some of the leaked App Store documents that were highlighted last week, especially as much of what's being discussed was shared by Epic and Apple ahead of the trial. When speaking to expert witnesses, however, Gonzalez Rogers hinted that she might aim for a compromise between Epic and Apple to solve the dispute.

As outlined by Bloomberg, there was a discussion about Apple's rules that prevent app developers from directing users to make purchases outside of the App Store, such as through the web, as an alternative to in-app purchases.

Speaking to Epic expert witness Dr. David Evans, an economist specializing in antitrust, Gonzalez Rogers asked him if whether removing this rule would solve the problems that Epic and other developers have with ‌App Store‌ rules. "If Apple didn't have these rules, would the problem be solved?" she asked.

Evans said that while it "wouldn't eliminate the market power that Apple has," it would "certainly diminish it." Though for apps and games without alternative payment systems, he said it "would not be much of a solution."

Apple has long prevented apps from directing users to outside purchase options. The Netflix app, for example, does not use in-app purchases but is not able to direct users to sign up for a subscription through the iPhone or iPad apps, instead using vague language to inform users that it's just not possible to sign up in the app.

Fortnite, the game at the heart of the dispute between Apple and Epic, does support purchasing in-game currency (v-bucks) on the web, but ‌Epic Games‌ is not allowed to advertise that option in the app under the current rules.

If Fortnite and other apps were able to advertise alternative payment options available to customers that aren't subject to Apple's 30 percent cut, it would address Epic's "walled garden" arguments and calls for alternative app store and payment options.

Apple is arguing to maintain the status quo, and when Apple witness and economist Richard Schmalensee was asked by the judge why it would be bad for customers to have choice, he pointed out that it would be undercutting the ‌App Store‌ sales and preventing Apple from collecting its commission.

It's not clear how the trial will ultimately play out, but there are still several days to go. Week three should be much more interesting, with Apple executives like Tim Cook and Phil Schiller planning to testify.

Apple today expanded its "Look Around" feature for Apple Maps to Atlanta, Georgia, according to ‌Apple Maps‌ expert Justin O'Beirne. The expansion marks Apple's 14th Look Around update since the feature was released in June 2019.

Look Around was initially introduced in iOS 13, and it offers 3D street-level imagery much like Google's Street View. At launch, Look Around was limited to just a handful of cities, but Apple has been expanding it since then and it is now an option in more than 20 cities and regions worldwide.

Apple has a list of the places where Look Around is supported on its website, with availability in cities that include New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Detroit, Chicago, San Diego, Portland, Denver, Phoenix, London, Tokyo, Dublin, and more.

Apple's last Look Around update was in February, with the feature coming to San Diego and Portland.

Update: Apple has also expanded Look Around to the Sendai and Kanazawa areas in Japan.

Since Apple launched the MagSafe-enabled iPhone 12 models, accessory makers have been coming up with various magnetic charging options that are designed to replace the standard Qi-based chargers available for iPhones.

Belkin recently launched the Boost Charge Magnetic Portable Wireless Charger Pad, which is one of its more affordable charging options at $29. The Magnetic Charger Pad is not MagSafe and can't charge at 15W. Like other chargers of this type, it is limited to 7.5W charging speeds.

‌MagSafe‌ is Apple technology so to get those 15W speeds, you need to use hardware licensed from Apple. Belkin has done this for its multi-charging options, but not using ‌MagSafe‌ is more affordable.

At $39, Belkin's charger is the same price as the the ‌MagSafe‌ Charger from Apple, but that price point includes a 6.6-foot charging cable and a 20W USB-C charger to power it. With ‌MagSafe‌, the charger is sold separately and is another $19 if you don't have one already on hand. If you do already have a 20W charger, you can get the Belkin charger for $29, $10 less than Apple's ‌MagSafe‌ Charger.

Design wise, Belkin's charger is a small wireless charging pad that snaps onto the back of an ‌iPhone‌ 12 model magnetically. Like other magnetic chargers, the magnets help it align in just the right spot for charging, so though you're not getting 15W, you are getting hassle-free alignment and optimal 7.5W charging.

The Belkin charger is made from a black or white plastic material that's nothing special, though I appreciate the long cord because it's ideal if you want to charge while using your ‌iPhone‌ at the same time. If you don't need all the cord, it comes with a cord wrap. The charger is thicker than a ‌MagSafe‌ Charger, and just a tiny bit bigger.

You can use this with any ‌iPhone‌ that charges with a Qi-based wireless charger, but it's best suited to the ‌iPhone‌ 12 models because of the magnet.

I tested the charging speed on the Boost Charge Magnetic Portable Wireless Charger Pad and it was what I would expect from any 7.5W charger. It's not a charging speed that's ideal if you need power in a hurry, but it's as useful as any other Qi charger for charging at night or while your ‌iPhone‌ is on your desk during the day.

Bottom Line

If you want 15W charging speeds or already have an appropriate 20W+ charger for use with a ‌MagSafe‌ Charger from Apple, I definitely recommend that. It's sleeker and faster than this charger from Belkin, and there's no real reason to choose an inferior charger.

If, however, you don't have a 20W charger and don't necessarily need 15W charging speeds because you're going to use it overnight or in a trickle charge situation, then Belkin's Boost Charge Magnetic Portable Wireless Charger Pad is perfectly adequate and worth checking out as an alternative option.

How to Buy

The Boost Charge Magnetic Portable Wireless Charger Pad can be purchased from Belkin or from Amazon for $30 without a charger and $40 with a 20W charger.

Apple's M1 iMacs are set to start delivering to customers next week, and ahead of the official launch day, benchmarks for the machines have been showing up on Geekbench, likely from reviewers who are testing them.

It will come as no surprise that ‌M1‌ iMac benchmarks are right on par with benchmarks for the ‌M1‌ MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini, coming in with an average single-core score of 1724 and an average multi-core score of 7453, aggregated from three benchmarks that are currently available.

Benchmarks are for the iMac21,1, which is likely the entry-level option with an 8-core CPU, a 7-core GPU, and two Thunderbolt ports. The ‌M1‌ ‌iMac‌ benchmarks list 8 CPU cores and a base frequency of 3.2GHz, and they're running macOS 11.3.

The 24-inch ‌M1‌ ‌iMac‌ significantly outperforms the 2019 21.5-inch ‌iMac‌ with an Intel chip that it's replacing, and it's going to be a solid upgrade over all older 21.5-inch machines.

The previous-generation high-end 21.5-inch ‌iMac‌ earned a single-core score of 1109 and a multi-core score of 6014, so the ‌M1‌ ‌iMac‌ is 56 percent faster when it comes to single-core performance and 24 percent faster when it comes to multi-core performance.

Compared to the current high-end 27-inch ‌iMac‌, the ‌M1‌ Mac outperforms in single-core performance, but it is lagging behind the 10th-generation Comet Lake Intel chip in multi-core performance. The high-end 27-inch ‌iMac‌ earned a single-core score of 1247 and a multi-core score of 9002.

The ‌M1‌ ‌iMac‌'s single-core performance is 38 percent faster, but the Intel ‌iMac‌'s multi-core performance is 25 percent faster.

With these scores, the ‌M1‌ ‌iMac‌ is not going to be able to replace the high-end 27-inch ‌iMac‌ because it lags behind in multi-core performance, but Apple is working on higher-end Apple silicon chips for desktop machines and we'll likely see an even more powerful Apple-designed chip introduced when Apple is ready to replace the 27-inch ‌iMac‌ with a new model.

The ‌M1‌ ‌iMac‌ does outperform lower-end 27-inch ‌iMac‌ models with Intel chips, beating the 6-core Intel models in both single and multi-core performance.

Pricing on the ‌M1‌ iMacs starts at $1,299 for the entry-level model and $1,499 for the version with an 8-core GPU, two additional USB-C ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and additional color options. ‌M1‌ ‌iMac‌ models ordered today will ship out in June, but those who preordered will soon be receiving their machines, and we'll learn more about them when reviews go live.