MacRumors

MacRumors is an Apple-focused site, but sometimes we like to share notable new features that Apple's competitors add to their devices, as a look at what Apple might explore in the future and just to keep tabs on what other companies are up to. Oppo recently released a smartphone with a microscope lens, and we thought it would be fun to check it out and see how it works in our latest YouTube video.

The Oppo Find X3 Pro isn't a phone that's sold in the United States and it's rather expensive at 1,149 euros (~$1350), but it has an included 3-megapixel "Microlens," which may be a first for a smartphone.

The Find X3 Pro's Microlens offers 60x magnification and a ring light, so you can see things up close, as you can see in the video. It's an incredibly niche feature, but it definitely makes the Find X3 Pro stand out and it's fun to play with.

You can see the weave of the AirPods Max mesh headband, a strand of hair, the veins of a plant leaf, and more. You're going to need a steady hand or a tripod to get most items in focus, which is one downside.

Aside from the Microlens camera, Oppo's Find X3 Pro is a top-tier flagship smartphone that easily competes with other Android smartphones out on the market. It also features a 50-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera, a 50-megapixel wide-angle camera, and a 13-megapixel telephoto camera, so it's still offering what most competitors have, just with the bonus microscope lens.

You can get high-magnification microscopes that are able to wirelessly connect to a smartphone for less than $50 so this is functionality that you can replicate rather affordably, but it's certainly fun to have it right at your fingertips for your on-the-go magnification needs.

Since this smartphone isn't sold in the United States at this time it has to be imported, and even with the high-end features and microlens, it's probably not worth paying the $1300 asking price along with shipping fees to get one. A built-in microscope probably isn't something we're going to see in the iPhone in the near future, but it's an interesting concept.

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

Priced at $80, the Luna Display adapter is a small dongle that plugs into your Mac using a USB-C port (on newer Macs) or a Mini DisplayPort and when used in combination with the Luna Display software, your main Mac (or a PC) can be connected to an ‌iPad‌ or another Mac over WiFi, giving you a new way to take advantage of old hardware or add an extra display without having to invest in another device.

When connected, the Luna Display extends the primary Mac's display to the secondary Mac or ‌iPad‌ to allow the extra device to be used as a second screen, which is useful as people continue working and learning from home with makeshift office setups in 2021.

The Mac and ‌iPad‌ have built-in Sidecar functionality that can turn an ‌iPad‌ into a secondary display for a Mac without an accessory, but the Luna Display sets itself apart with the Mac-to-Mac support, which ‌Sidecar‌ can't do. Luna Display is also able to work with older iPads that don't support ‌Sidecar‌.

In Mac-to-Mac mode, the primary Mac needs to have OS X El Capitan or later installed, while the secondary Mac can be running OS X Mountain Lion or later, so Luna Display works with machines that are quite old. For best performance, the main Mac should be a 2012 MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iMac, or later, or a 2013 Mac Pro or later. As of November 2020, the Luna Display adapter has native support for M1 Macs, too.

Luna Display offers full keyboard, trackpad, and mouse support on both connected Macs in Mac-to-Mac mode, with more information on how it works available on the Luna Display website.

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

For those who have PCs, there is a Luna Display adapter for Windows. The PC version of Luna Display extends your desktop from PC to ‌iPad‌, allowing your devices to work interchangeably.

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

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

The contest will run from today (April 2) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on April 9. The winners will be chosen randomly on April 9 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.

Since 2019, Spotify has been working on "Car Thing," a voice-controlled music and podcast assistant. After Spotify announced Car Thing, little else was said about it, but it appears the company is gearing up for some kind of launch.

Back in January, Car Thing showed up in FCC filings, and now, images of Car Thing have been located in the Spotify app code. MacRumors contributor Steve Moser found several pictures of the Car Thing, giving us a clear look at the new device.

Spotify's original Car Thing had a small circular screen with several controls available on a side panel, but the new version features a much larger rectangular display that's closer in design to a smartphone, along with a large control knob and a smaller button.

We don't know what the control knob or the smaller button do, but Spotify's FCC filing described Car Thing as a "voice controlled accessory for phone/Spotify App with supporting display and buttons." It is Bluetooth-enabled and able to communicate with in-car head units, and it is powered from a 12V outlet.

Photos of various mounts are also included in Spotify's app, indicating that Car Thing will be able to be attached to a dash or mounted to a vent in the car, and it will perhaps be sold with these mounting options. There are indications that directions will be supported in some capacity, perhaps through the Waze/Spotify partnership.

When Car Thing was announced, Spotify said it was a test device developed to help the company understand more about how people listen to music and podcasts, and that there were no plans to make the device available to consumers. Spotify has, however, continued work on this device for the last two years and has changed its design significantly, which suggests it could eventually see a launch.

The Spotify app also has code for paid subscriptions for podcasts as the company gears up to launch its Anchor podcast creation tool. Spotify will eventually launch a paid podcast subscription feature, but there is some groundwork that needs to be established first. Spotify's paid podcasts will let Anchor creators that sign up offer paid podcast subscriptions that their listeners can subscribe to.

There's one other unreleased feature for Podcasts that's worth noting - comments. In the Spotify app, there's code for leaving comments on podcasts, something that's not currently available. Spotify users will be able to comment on podcast episodes, and creators will be able to respond.

An inventive MacRumors forums member has successfully retrofitted a water-cooling system to their 15-inch Intel-based MacBook Pro, thereby eliminating fan noise and boosting performance.

MacRumors forums member "theodric" explained that the noise of their ‌MacBook Pro‌'s fans had become disruptive during conference calls, so amid ordering an M1 MacBook Air, they decided to fit a water cooling system to their machine.

theodric used inexpensive parts such as Bitcoin ASIC miner blocks from AliExpress, an Aquastream XT Ultra water pump, and a Zalman radiator and reservoir from 2005 to create the system.

High-transmissivity thermal pads were added between the case shell and various motherboard components to conduct heat away from the ‌MacBook Pro‌ and into the water cooling system. The thermal shielding from the bottom of the case was also removed, as well as the feet, to ensure full contact with the new cooling plates. The pump, which requires Windows software to operate, was run via a virtual machine, and a Raspberry Pi was used for monitoring.

theodric says that they have "hardly heard the fan since I started using it" and have seen benchmark scores significantly improve under the system. See theodric's full post for more information about the ambitious project.

Although water-cooling a Mac makes for a challenging project, with the advent of Apple silicon chips, which are able to run much cooler than Intel chips, it is very unlikely that we will ever see an official Mac with water-cooling in the future. Nevertheless, there are still cooling upgrades slated to come to the Mac, with the next model due a thermal upgrade seemingly being the new 14-inch MacBook Pro.

The upcoming 14-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ is expected to adopt the improved thermals of the current 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ model, with a larger heat pipe, added thermal pads, and a 35 percent larger heat sink to increase the machine's performance potential and allow it to run at cooler temperatures.

The average iPhone user spent 38 percent more in 2020 on premium apps and in-app purchases than the year before, reaching a total average spend of $138 per ‌iPhone‌ in the United States, according to new research conducted by Sensor Tower.

2020 was a record year for App Store spending, with more than ever being spent per ‌iPhone‌ user. Although ‌App Store‌ sales grew by 42 percent in 2016, the 38 percent growth in 2020 significantly exceeds the 27 percent year-on-year increase seen between 2018 and 2019 when it rose from $79 to $100.

In particular, per-device spending on mobile games saw explosive growth in 2020, jumping from $53.80 in 2019 to $76.80 for year-on-year growth of 43 percent. The biggest source of spending on mobile games was in the Puzzle category, which includes games like Candy Crush Saga and Gardenscapes.

In addition to mobile games, per-iPhone spending in the Entertainment category boomed, reaching $10.20, which is an increase of 26 percent over the $8.10 spent in 2019.

This large increase in consumer spending per ‌iPhone‌ mirrored overall global trends, which saw consumers spending more overall last year as they turned to their mobile devices during the global health crisis. Average consumer spending on apps per ‌iPhone‌ in the U.S. has grown markedly each year by at least 20 percent, but it is yet to be seen if the trend will continue into 2021.

Apple today announced that its mobile gaming subscription service, Apple Arcade, is gaining 30 classic games including "Fruit Ninja," "Monument Valley," "Solitaire," and "Cut the Rope" as the service passes a total of 180 titles.

The new games come in two brand new categories on the platform called "Timeless Classics" and "App Store Greats." Some of the new Timeless Classics include:

• Really Bad Chess
• Sudoku Simple
• Backgammon
• Tiny Crossword
• Solitaire

The new ‌App Store‌ Greats add a number of familiar titles from over the years, including:

• Monument Valley
• Mini Metro
• Threes!
• Fruit Ninja Classic
• Chameleon Run

‌Apple Arcade‌ is also gaining a number of new "Arcade Originals" today:

• NBA 2K21 Arcade Edition
• Simon's Cat: Story Time Tactile Games
• Star Trek: Legends
• The Oregon Trail
• Cut the Rope Remastered
• SongPop Party

‌App Store‌ vice president Matt Fischer said that ‌Apple Arcade‌ has become a place for friends and family to enjoy games on a safe and private platform while also touting the praise the service has received since its launch.

In its inaugural year, Apple Arcade won over media critics and fans for its creativity, diverse portfolio, and commitment to players' privacy, providing a safe gaming service to enjoy with family and friends.

Apple Arcade launched in September of 2019 as an ad-free mobile game subscription service with no in-app purchases. ‌Apple Arcade‌ is available across the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, and Mac for $4.99 per month, or as part of the Apple One bundle.

Apple is once again closing all of its retail locations in France due to the ongoing health crisis, the first time since last year where all 20 locations have been closed, MacGeneration reports.

France currently remains on heightened alert due to the pandemic, with some regions under stricter lockdowns than others. The majority of Apple Stores in the country have remained closed, while others such as Apple Champs-Élysées, Apple Opéra, Apple Marché Saint-Germain, and Apple Lille, remained open for customers according to MacGeneration.

Apple says that the closures will be temporary and offers no date for when customers can expect them to reopen. Stores that were open previously, such as Apple Champs-Élysées and Apple Opéra, will remain open until Saturday, April 3, for customers to pick up current online orders or attend a Genius Bar appointment that was scheduled before April 3.

However, even with stores open, Apple has in place strict measures such as social distancing, mask-wearing, and temperature checks. Apple has taken a cautious approach to closing and reopening its stores as the pandemic situation differs. As of March 1, all 270 Apple Stores in the United States are open.

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.

A series of images posted on the Chinese social networking platform Weibo, shared by leaker DuanRui on Twitter, claims to showcase the new colors for Apple's 2021 Spring collection for the iPhone 12 MagSafe case.

According to the images, Apple plans to release four new color options for its ‌MagSafe‌ ‌iPhone‌ 12 cases. The colors resemble light blue, dark purple, light green, and orange. As part of its 2020 Spring collection, Apple released iPhone 11 cases with very similar colors; however, if the leak is accurate, Apple's adding a dark purple.

The images were shared by the Weibo account "Uncle Pan Pan," which currently has no track record for sharing accurate Apple information, however, the account was first brought to light by ‌DuanRui‌, which has shared accurate information in the past.

In 2020, Apple released matching ‌iPhone‌ 11 and Apple Watch bands for its Spring collection. Apple could decide to do the same thing this year, and if so, the colors shared by "Uncle Pan Pan" also showcase new Apple Watch band colors.

Apple typically releases new Spring accessories around the end of March or early April. Apple was falsely expected to hold an event towards the end of March, and now hopes are on a press release in the coming weeks for possible new iPad Pros, AirTags, and presumably, new Spring cases and Apple Watch bands.

Fantasian, the latest turn-based role-playing game by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, has just been released exclusively on Apple Arcade.

Set against a backdrop made from over 150 handmade dioramas that blend physical environments with 3D characters, Fantasian sees players assume the role of "Leo," who awakens to find himself lost in a strange land with only one remaining memory.

The tale begins in a realm governed by machines. Within this multi-dimensional universe, the balance of "Chaos and Order" becomes a key factor in the struggle for these realms and the machinations of the gods who wish to control them. Players will assume the role of protagonist, Leo, who awakens from a massive explosion only to find himself lost in a strange land with only one memory left to him. As players set out on a journey to reclaim Leo's memories, they will unravel the mysteries of the bizarre mechanical infection slowly engulfing all that is known to mankind. The captivating story is written by Sakaguchi and is complimented by a sweeping soundtrack by celebrated Final Fantasy composer, Nobuo Uematsu.

The game includes new battle mechanics including "Dimengeon Battle,", which allows players to send previously encountered enemies into a separate dimensional dungeon to streamline combat and maximize exploration.

The soundtrack to the game is by Nobuo Uematsu, known for his work on the Final Fantasy series and other titles such as Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon.

According to an interview given to the LA Times, Sakaguchi found inspiration for the game by replaying Final Fantasy VI, which offered a number of reminders and lessons for modern mobile game development.

"Back in the day, everything was done in tiles," said Sakaguchi "Your character would move one tile at a time. That introduces puzzle-like elements, in which you might see a treasure tile that you can't access. But if you walk around the building and go through the back door, you might be able to reach that chest.

"When the player reaches the ending, it feels like they have seen everything this world has to offer. That desire — that craving that humans have — we're trying to re-create."

Fantasian is available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. ‌‌Apple Arcade‌‌‌‌‌ is priced at $4.99 per month, and that price point allows the whole family to play games without ads or additional in-app purchases.

Apple has begun rejecting app updates that do not comply with the App Tracking Transparency rules that the company is enforcing starting with iOS 14.5, according to a new report from Forbes.

Apps must ask for permission to access the advertising identifier or IDFA of a user's iPhone in order to track them across apps for ad targeting purposes, a rule that apps will need to comply with when iOS 14.5 launches. The rule also prevents apps from using other workaround methods for tracking users, which is getting some developers into trouble already.

Several apps have been rejected so far, with Forbes listing Heetch, Radish Fiction, InnoGames, and more. Developers seeing app rejections are getting the following message: "Your app uses algorithmically converted device and usage data to create a unique identifier in order to track the user," with the message also listing the data that's being collected.

Mobile marketing analyst Eric Seufert said that an SDK from mobile measurement company Adjust is at fault because of the data that it collects for device fingerprinting. Adjust, which is installed in more than 50,000 apps, says that it "maximizes the impact" of mobile marketing.

Apple is blocking apps that are using fingerprinting techniques to collect data for the purpose of building a profile of a user that allows the user to be tracked even without an advertising identifier. Data collection uses metrics like software version, time since last update, time since last restart, charge level, battery status, and more to identify individual users.

It is Apple's position that if a customer has declined the usage of the IDFA for ad tracking, that user has also declined other tracking methods. Apple's App Store rules say that app developers cannot collect data from a device for the purpose of identifying it, and developers are responsible for all tracking code in their apps, including any third-party SDKs they're using.

Adjust has now updated its SDK to remove code that accesses data like CPU type, phone memory, charging status, and battery level, so apps that were rejected for using Adjust may be able to have their updates greenlit after installing the new Adjust SDK.

There's still no word on when Apple plans to release iOS 14.5, but we've had six betas so far and the software is set to be available to the public sometime in the spring. With the App Tracking Transparency rules starting to be enforced for updates, it is possible that Apple is preparing for the software's launch, so we could perhaps see it debut in the near future.

Apple today updated its Apple Support app to version 4.2, introducing a few useful new features to streamline the app's usefulness for getting service and support for Apple devices.

The section of the app that provides coverage details now offers up more information about benefits and service options, plus you can now get reminders about your upcoming Genius Bar or Apple Authorized Service Provider reservations sent by text message or phone.

Though not mentioned in the release notes, the update introduces a new Check Coverage App Clip for those who do not have the Apple Support app installed. If you go to Apple's Check Coverage website on an iPhone without the app, you will be able to use the App Clip to see device information without needing to download the full Apple Support app.

The Apple Support app is designed to provide an easy to use resource on the ‌iPhone‌ and iPad for getting help with hardware issues. It is a free app that can be downloaded from the App Store. [Direct Link]

(Thanks, Steve Moser!)

The next-generation iPhone SE that's set to launch in 2022 will feature the same 4.7-inch display as the current version, according to display analyst Ross Young.

The existing ‌iPhone‌ SE is modeled after the ‌iPhone‌ 8 with a 4.7-inch display. There were rumors suggesting that Apple was working on an "‌iPhone‌ SE Plus" that could come out this year, but earlier this month, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that there won't be a new iPhone in the SE family until 2022.

Young's information also suggests there will be no 2021 refresh for the ‌iPhone‌ SE, but he says that following the minor 2022 refresh, there could be a more radical design change coming in 2023.

Apple is said to be working on a 6.1-inch version of the ‌iPhone‌ SE that features a hole punch design rather than a notch. Apple is rumored to be planning to bring the hole punch display to the 2022 flagship models, so it makes sense that after introducing new ‌iPhone‌ 14 models with the design change, it could trickle down to the ‌iPhone‌ SE a year later.

The hole punch design is something that Android manufacturers have been using for some time to maximize available display area while also leaving space for the front-facing camera. On Apple's devices, the hole punch will replace the current notch.

Though there will presumably be few design changes to the ‌iPhone‌ SE coming in 2022, the device is expected to get an upgraded processor and 5G support, which Young says may be limited to sub-6GHz.

Apple CEO Tim Cook today sent out a motivating memo to Apple employees to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Apple's founding, asking them to rededicate themselves to the original mission of Apple's founding - to redefine what technology can achieve and make people's lives better. Cook's memo was shared in full by French site MacGeneration.

Cook said that there's never been a moment in Apple's history with such great potential, nor has Apple ever had "so talented and dedicated a team." Cook quoted Steve Jobs: "It's been an amazing journey so far, yet we have barely begun," and included his own inspirational addendum. "Remember that none of us will be here for the end of the story, but it's on all of us to make sure it's one worth telling."

On April 1, 1976, a company was formed in Cupertino to create transformative products that redefine what technology can achieve and make people's lives better in the process. Forty-five years later, we mark this occasion by rededicating ourselves to that mission -- and to keeping it alive for a long time to come -- rather than to remember it fondly as something past.

While some things about Apple have changed over these many years, the important things haven't. From the M1 chip to 5G iPhones, from iPads that change the face of education and productivity to a Watch that can look out for your health, to the very best Software and Services that bring them all to life, we have never stopped setting the pace that others try to match. What I can tell you with gut certainty is that there has never been a moment of such great potential as this one, nor have we ever had so talented and dedicated a team. That shouldn't make us rest easy. Great potential obligates great people to meet it.

I know this past year has tested each of us in ways that we never imagined. It's asked all of us to adapt, it's added complexity to our work and it has demanded additional resolve and commitment in areas of our lives that extend well beyond our work. But I also know that what we have each achieved during this time should make us enormously proud. Through a once-in-a-generation challenge, the things we make, and the ways in which we make them, have revealed profound and durable new sources of value to the people who love and count on them. And, on many fronts, we know even brighter days are ahead.

In an email like this one, to mark a much earlier anniversary shortly after I joined Apple, Steve said, "it's been an amazing journey so far, yet we have barely begun." Still true. Remember that none of us will be here for the end of the story, but it's on all of us to make sure it's one worth telling.

Cook also shared the same Steve Jobs quote on Twitter and offered a cheers to the "next 45 years and beyond."

As Apple celebrates its 45th anniversary, the company is poised to announce major new hardware products in 2021, including new Apple silicon notebooks and desktops, updated AirPods, new iPads, and refreshed iPhones, plus work is ongoing on a mixed reality headset, Apple smart glasses, an Apple-designed self-driving vehicle, and more.

Today marks the 45th anniversary of Apple, co-founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne on April 1, 1976. Wayne sold his 10% share of the company back to Jobs and Wozniak just 12 days later to avoid financial risk, which is unfortunate in hindsight given that his stake would be worth more than $200 billion today.

Apple's history began in the garage of Jobs' childhood home in Los Altos, California, where he worked with Wozniak to test the first Apple I computer systems in 1975. Jobs then reached a sales agreement with a small computer store named the Byte Shop in nearby Mountain View, California, which began selling the Apple I in July 1976 for $666.66. Wozniak later said he chose that price because he liked repeating digits.

From near-bankruptcy in the late 1990s to becoming the world's most valuable public company by the 2010s, Apple has been through a series of highs and lows over the past four and a half decades. The company has introduced several iconic products over that time, most notably including the Macintosh in 1984, the iPod in 2001, and the iPhone in 2007, with Jobs becoming well known for his charismatic keynote presentations.

Apple CEO Tim Cook reflected on the company's 45th anniversary today on Twitter, sharing a quote from Jobs and thanking employees.

Apple recently capped off its most financially successful year ever with a record $111 billion revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020. The company is now valued at over $2 trillion, and its future is expected to include greater pushes into areas like AR/VR and artificial intelligence as technology continues to evolve beyond screens.