MacRumors

Enterprising eBay sellers are hoping people who are desperate to play Fortnite will pay high prices for iPhones with the game installed, and there are currently hundreds of iPhone listings on eBay advertising the Fortnite app as a purchase perk.

Many of the prices listed are astronomical, ranging from over $1,000 to up to $10,000 (as noted by Business Insider), but there are some devices available that are reasonably priced. Unsurprisingly, few of the iPhones priced at thousands of dollars have bids, as most people don't appear that desperate to play Fortnite on a mobile device at this time.

There's one ‌iPhone‌ 8 with Fortnite installed that has two bids over $4,000, but those are most likely fake bids. An iPhone SE 2020 with Fortnite is currently priced at $345, which is reasonable, and there's an ‌iPhone‌ XS with Fortnite that's going for $233 at the current time. Given the myriad other ways to play Fortnite, most of these eBay sellers likely won't see purchases.

Apple last week pulled Fortnite from the App Store after Fortnite creator Epic Games introduced an option to purchase in-game currency using a direct payment method, skirting Apple's rules surrounding in-app purchases.

‌Epic Games‌ filed a pre-planned lawsuit after the app was pulled, and the conflict escalated from there. On Monday, Apple sent Epic a letter threatening to terminate all of its developer accounts by August 28, prompting another lawsuit from Epic to attempt to stop that from happening.

Apple has said that it plans to revoke ‌Epic Games‌' access to the App Store and all app development tools, including those used for the Unreal Engine that ‌Epic Games‌ makes available to third-party developers. In response to Epic's second lawsuit, Apple said that it has no plans to "make an exception" for ‌Epic Games‌.

Apple has also made it clear that Fortnite can be returned to the ‌App Store‌ as soon as ‌Epic Games‌ agrees to follow Apple's ‌App Store‌ rules and policies, but it's not known if and when Epic might cave. Right now, Fortnite continues to offer the direct payment purchase option for in-game currency that violates Apple's rules. Regardless of whether Epic makes an effort to get Fortnite back into the ‌App Store‌, the legal battle that has kicked off could span years.

Epic is hoping to recruit a "coalition of Apple critics" to stand with it to fight Apple's ‌App Store‌ policies, which are already under scrutiny as part of an antitrust investigation in the United States.

While the fight between Apple and Epic rages on, Fortnite continues to be playable on any ‌iPhone‌ or iPad that had the game installed before the app was pulled from the ‌App Store‌, hence all the eBay listings. It is also still available on Android devices (though it was pulled from the Google Play store), Macs, PCs, and consoles from Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft.

Apple is planning to make a donation to help wildfire relief efforts in California, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced this afternoon.

Fire season in California kicked off earlier this week when a lightning storm ignited fires across the state. Over the last 72 hours, California has experienced close to 11,000 lightning strikes, which have sparked 367 known fires. Governor Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency yesterday.

Amid the fires, California is also battling an ongoing heat wave that has seen high temperatures and low humidity, conditions that contribute to fire spread. Many Californians in the Bay Area have been forced to evacuate their homes and air quality near Apple's headquarters in Cupertino has been affected by the fires.

California regularly experiences fires between August and November due to high winds and dry conditions. Apple has previously donated to wildfire relief efforts in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Apple today seeded the fifth beta of the upcoming macOS Big Sur update to developers for testing purposes, two weeks after releasing the fourth beta and over a month after the new update was unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

The macOS Big Sur beta can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center and once the appropriate profile is installed, subsequent betas will be available through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences. According to Apple's release notes for the fifth beta, it is not supported onthe new 2020 27-inch iMac. Those who attempt to install and run into an error will need to reinstall macOS Catalina.

macOS Big Sur introduces a refreshed design to the Mac operating system, overhauling the entire look from the curvature of the window corners to the dock icons to the system sounds. Everything feels fresh but familiar, with a lighter and more modern appearance. There's a new customizable Control Center that mirrors the Control Center on iOS devices, putting key system controls right at your fingertips.

The Notification Center has been redesigned with iOS-style widgets that are available in multiple sizes, plus there are more interactive notifications that are now grouped by app to make it easier to see what's going on. Safari is faster and more battery efficient, plus there's a new start page that can be customized with wallpapers and sections that include Reading List and iCloud Tabs, which makes Safari more tailored to your individual usage needs.

Tabs have been redesigned, there's a built-in language translation feature, Chrome and Firefox Extensions can be ported to Safari, and YouTube supports 4K video playback. There's also an option to choose which sites an extension works with for greater privacy. Speaking of privacy, a new Privacy Report feature lets users know the trackers Safari is blocking when you visit websites.

Messages is more similar to the Messages app on iOS with support for pinned conversations, mentions, inline replies, and Memoji creation, plus the built-in search feature has been overhauled to make it easier to find links, photos, and conversations in the app.

Apple redesigned the Maps app to add support for Look Around, indoor maps, and Guides, which are lists of notable attractions, restaurants, and more created by trusted sources. Maps can also be used to generate directions for cycling routes and electric vehicle trips that can be sent to iPhone, and shared ETA updates are now viewable on the Mac.

Photos includes a better Retouch tool, Apple Music's For You section has been replaced with a Listen Now section, HomeKit Secure Video cameras support Face Recognition and Activity zones, and Siri can answer a wider range of questions than before.

In the future, the macOS Big Sur App Store will help users better understand privacy practices with clear info on the information that an app collects, and after installing macOS Big Sur, you'll see faster updates that begin in the background and then finish more quickly to make it easier to keep your Mac up to date.

Apple in the third beta of macOS Big Sur changed the battery icon for the Battery section in System Preferences, refining the design to make it look more clean and streamlined. There update also brought a new design for the Music app icon (it's red), and some color changes to the buttons and icons inside the music app.

For more on everything that's new in macOS Big Sur, make sure to check out our roundup.

The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) today announced that it is launching an investigation to determine whether Apple's mobile devices and Macs violate patents owned by Japanese consumer electronics company Maxell. [PDF]

Maxell filed a complaint with the USITC on July 17, alleging that Apple's mobile devices, tablets, smartwatches, and laptop computers violate patents related to passcode unlocking, WiFi assist, mobile communications, facial recognition in the Photos app, and more.

Notice is hereby given that a complaint was filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission on July 17, 2020, under section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, on behalf of Maxell, Ltd. of Japan. The complaint alleges violations of section 337 based upon the importation into the United States, the sale for importation, and the sale within the United States after importation of certain mobile electronic devices and laptop computers by reason of infringement of certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 7,203,517 ("the '517 patent"); U.S. Patent No. 8,982,086 ("the '086 patent"); U.S. Patent No. 7,199,821 ("the '821 patent"); U.S. Patent No. 10,129,590 ("the '590 patent"); and U.S. Patent No. 10,176,848 ("the '848 patent"). The complaint further alleges that an industry in the United States exists as required by the applicable Federal Statute.

Maxell is asking that the USITC issue a limited exclusion order and a cease and desist order to prevent Apple from importing infringing devices into the U.S.

The USITC plans to make a final determination in the investigation as quickly as possible. Within 45 days after investigation begins, the USITC will set a target date for completion.

Apple today seeded new public betas of upcoming iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 updates to its public beta testing group. Today's software releases, which Apple labels as fifth betas to keep them in line with developer betas, are actually the fourth betas that Apple has provided to public testers and they come two weeks after the prior beta releases.

Public beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program can download the iOS/‌iPadOS‌ 14 updates over the air after installing the proper certificate from the Public Beta website on an iOS device, with instructions available in our how to.

• How to Install iOS 14 (Public and Developer Betas)

iOS 14 brings changes to the Home Screen, including widget support. Widgets can now be placed right next to your apps, and with the focus on widgets, Apple has introduced new widgets from default apps and is allowing them to be customized in three sizes.

You can put widgets anywhere on any app page, with new widgets able to be found in the widget gallery. Along with widgets, Apple has introduced an App Library, which is an interface that shows all of the apps on your iPhone both in smart folders that are created automatically and in an alphabetical list.

With the App Library providing access to all your apps, there's now an option to hide entire app pages from your ‌iPhone‌, so you can avoid a cluttered Home Screen.

Apple has worked to make the ‌iPhone‌'s interface more compact, and incoming phone calls and Siri requests no longer take over the whole screen and are instead presented in a banner style, a feature also available on iPadOS.

There's a Picture in Picture mode for watching videos or using FaceTime while doing something else at the same time on the ‌iPhone‌. The Messages app has new features focused on group conversations like pinned conversations, mentions, and inline replies.

A new App Clips feature lets you use small bite sized bits of an app without the need to download the whole app, useful for times when you need an app to buy a coffee, rent a scooter, or make a restaurant reservation. App Clips will work through Apple-designed App Clip codes, NFC tags, or QR codes, and can also be shared in Messages or from Safari.

The Health app supports the Sleep Tracking feature added in watchOS 7, and the ‌iPhone‌ will support the Sleep Mode and Wind Down features designed to help you get a better night's sleep. There's also a new Health Checklist that makes it easier to manage health and safety features like Emergency SOS, Fall Detection, and Medical ID.

The Weather app now provides info on severe weather events and minute-by-minute precipitation readings (U.S. only), and the Maps app supports cycling directions for the first time so bike riders can plan routes with info like busy streets, elevation changes, stairs, and more. Maps also now lets electric vehicle owners plan routes with EV charging spots.

The Home app is smarter with automation suggestions and an Adaptive Lighting feature that lets HomeKit lights adjust their color temperature throughout the day, plus there are new features for ‌HomeKit‌ Secure Cameras.

A new Apple-designed Translate app provides text and voice translations to and from 11 languages, and with an on-device mode, translations can be done entirely on your phone.

Tons of new privacy features have been added in iOS and iPadOS 14. Apps need permission before accessing devices on a local network, you get notified when an app accesses the clipboard, and there are little icons in the status bar of the ‌Home Screen‌ when an app is using the camera or the microphone.

There are also new options for limiting access to select photos and providing apps with an approximate location rather than an exact location for better privacy protection. Safari has Privacy Report that tells you which trackers sites are using, and in the future, the App Store will include a summary of developers' privacy practices in an easy-to-read format.

AirPods can now seamlessly and automatically switch between devices, and AirPods Pro gain a new spatial audio feature for surround sound complete with dynamic head tracking.

As for iPadOS 14, it includes most of the new iOS 14 updates, minus the ‌Home Screen‌ redesign. The biggest change is the new Scribble feature that lets you use the Apple Pencil to write on any text field, with the written text converted to typed text.

Scribble works throughout the operating system so you can use the ‌Apple Pencil‌ for Safari searches, adding new items in Calendar and Reminders, sending Messages, handwriting in the Notes app, and more.

Beta 5 for developers introduced a larger Apple News widget option, a scrolling clock wheel for apps like Alarm Clock, an option to turn on Exposure Notifications, and a feature to better hide photo albums, and these new additions are also available in today's public beta.

For more on everything that's new in iOS and iPadOS 14, make sure to check out our iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 roundups, which have a detailed look on all of the new features.

Introduced in March, and offered every month since, the COVID-19 Customer Assistance Program has allowed Apple Card holders to skip their monthly payment without incurring interest charges amid these challenging times.

In an email to a MacRumors reader today, Apple Card financial partner Goldman Sachs indicated that it is currently planning to offer customers the ability to enroll in this program up to six times in 2020, which it said is "consistent with current regulatory guidelines" in the United States. For customers that have been enrolled since March, this means that August would be their sixth and final month of eligibility this year.

Customers can change their enrollment status for August at any time prior to August 31, should they wish to save their sixth enrollment for a later month. In this case, their next payment would be due at the end of the month, including interest if applicable. Goldman Sachs can be reached through the Wallet app or by phone at 1-877-255-5923.

"We know this is a difficult time for many and our thoughts are with you," said Goldman Sachs, adding that it is developing additional payment plans for customers who need them and that it hopes to share more details soon.

To enroll in the program, open the Wallet app on an iPhone or iPad, tap on the ‌Apple Card‌, tap on the black circle with three dots, tap on the message bubble, and send a message along the lines of "I want to enroll in the Customer Assistance Program." Confirmation of your enrollment will be sent to the email address associated with your Apple ID.

Customers need to re-enroll in the program each month.

Warren Buffett's $113 billion stake in Apple is approaching a quarter of his investment firm Berkshire Hathaway's entire market value, according to Business Insider. Adding in Berkshire Hathaway's $147 billion in cash assets, Apple and cash represent over half of the firm's market value.

Berkshire Hathaway held approximately $260 billion in cash and Apple stock at the last count, representing 52% of its $499 billion market capitalization, with Apple alone representing about 22.5% of Berkshire Hathaway's market value. Berkshire Hathaway's stock price is down about 9% this year even as Apple's share price has risen over 50%, exacerbating the impact of heavily weighted cash and Apple holdings.

Subtracting Apple shares and cash, the remainder of Berkshire Hathaway is valued by the market at just $240 billion, which is surprising given the scale of Berkshire Hathaway's operations. The company owns many businesses, including Geico, See's Candies, Dairy Queen, Duracell, Fruit of the Loom, NetJets, Precision Castparts, PacifiCorp, MidAmerican Energy, the BNSF Railway, and Marmon, which itself owns more than 100 manufacturing and services businesses.

Warren Buffett held 245 million Apple shares as of the end of June, representing a 5.7% stake in Apple as a whole. The stock price of Apple has soared by over 57% to an all-time high this year, boosting the value of Berkshire's Apple holdings by more than $40 billion to around $113 billion as of yesterday. Apple is by far the largest investment held in Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio, worth more than four times as much as its second-largest holding, a $25 billion stake in Bank of America.

These calculations were completed before Apple passed a market value of two trillion dollars earlier today. Berkshire Hathaway's holdings have been particularly exposed to the global health crisis in recent months via its multiple insurance, manufacturing, retail, and service businesses, but this has been largely offset by the soaring value of Apple shares. The value of the firm's Apple stake relative to the rest of its portfolio highlights the extent to which investors are increasingly favoring tech companies and neglecting more traditional businesses such as banks and insurers.

Texas-based startup OnwardMobility today announced that it plans to release a new Android-based BlackBerry smartphone with a physical QWERTY keyboard and 5G support in the first half of 2021 in North America and Europe.

The device will really only be a BlackBerry in spirit, as part of a brand licensing agreement with the Canadian company. Once a dominant player in the smartphone industry, BlackBerry exited the business in 2016 following years of declining sales, falling victim to the rise in popularity of the iPhone and Android smartphones.

While details are slim, OnwardMobility claims that its BlackBerry will sport a "world-class design" with a focus on security and productivity for "enterprise professionals."

Chinese company TCL reached a similar agreement with BlackBerry to manufacture BlackBerry-branded devices in 2016. That partnership is set to expire at the end of August, paving the way for OnwardMobility to step in.

BlackBerry briefly experimented with an Android-based smartphone of its own in 2015, the Priv, which combined a 5.4-inch display with a physical QWERTY keyboard.

Apple plans to roll out an iPhone 12 made exclusively in India by middle of next year, according to Business Standard.

Apple supplier Wistron has apparently begun trial production of the ‌iPhone‌ 12 already at a new facility near Bengaluru. Wistron has reportedly set about hiring as many as 10,000 new staff for manufacturing facilities in India.

The ‌iPhone‌ 12 would be the seventh ‌iPhone‌ model to be manufactured in India, but the first high-end device to do so. Until recently, ‌iPhone‌ production in India was limited to lower-cost and older models, and production of the iPhone SE in India is expected to begin by the end of 2020. Business Standard's sources said that the new facility in Narasapura would be for the manufacture of the ‌iPhone‌ 12, and its existing plant in Bengaluru would be used to produce the ‌iPhone SE‌.

Apple is aggressively stepping up its India-based manufacturing efforts as it seeks to move away from supply chain concentration in China. Apple suppliers Pegatron and Samsung are expected to set up production facilities in India, and Foxconn has announced that it plans to invest as much as $1 billion in India, having already established its first manufacturing plant in the country.

Initiatives such as the "production linked incentive" (PLI) scheme have made India-based production attractive to big tech companies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent "Made in India" initiative also requires 30 percent of products sold by foreign companies to be manufactured or produced within the country.

Increased production in India is believed to allow Apple to price iPhones more competitively in the country. India is also the world's second-largest smartphone market, but just one in four Indians are said to own a smartphone, providing Apple with the opportunity to sell iPhones to millions of new customers, while also diversifying its supply chains and moving away from its heavy reliance on China.

Apple's stock price is continuing to surge, and has risen over one percent today to push the company past $2 trillion in market capitalization by surpassing the $467.77 mark and briefly topping $468. Apple is the first U.S. company to achieve that milestone.

Just over two months ago, Apple became the first U.S. company to reach a market capitalization of $1.5 trillion, and Amazon and Microsoft have since also passed that mark. Apple was also the first to hit the $1 trillion mark just over two years ago.

Apple's share price has more than doubled since its low point just five months ago, and the company will be completing a four-for-one stock split at the end of this month. That will bring Apple's share price down to the $100 range, but with four times as many shares in circulation, it will not affect the company's overall market value.

Apple today shared the official trailer for "On the Rocks," an upcoming comedy film starring Rashida Jones, Bill Murray, and Marlon Wayans.

The film revolves around Laura, a young mother in New York faced with sudden doubts about her marriage. Laura teams up with her impulsive father Felix, who insists they investigate the situation, leading to an adventure across the city and a generational clash about how people see relationships differently from their parents.

"Acclaimed filmmaker Sofia Coppola brings a light touch to this blend of an exuberant love letter to New York, a generation-clash comedy about how we see relationships differently from our parents, and a funny celebration of the complications that bind modern families even as they tie us in crazy knots," says Apple.

"On the Rocks" hails from independent studio A24 and will debut on Apple TV+ in October.

Apple will launch the iPad Air 4 in March 2021 with an A14 processor, according to Chinese site MyDrivers.

According to "foreign sources," the report corroborates previous rumors that Apple will bring the ‌iPad Air‌ 4 much closer to the current iPad Pro in terms of design and features. The ‌iPad Air‌ 4 will reportedly have a smart connector on its rear to support the new Magic Keyboard. It is also apparently set to transition from the Lightning Connector to USB-C, and feature four stereo speakers.

The report alleges that the ‌iPad Air‌ 4 will be equipped with an 11-inch Liquid Retina display, and offer storage configurations of 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB. It is possible that this speculated 11-inch screen size is in fact 10.8-inches, as reported by supply chain analyst Ming Chi Kuo. In either case, the ‌iPad Air‌ 4 looks to have a larger screen size and significantly reduced bezels.

Currently, each of these features are reserved for the ‌iPad Pro‌ only. The ‌iPad Air‌ fills the mid-market gap between the high-end ‌iPad Pro‌ and the entry-level iPad, but the new device will supposedly begin at a higher starting price of $649, $150 more than the current ‌iPad Air‌ 3.

The report also claims that an updated ‌iPad Pro‌ could arrive as soon as next month, presumably alongside new iPhones at Apple's usual fall event. Rumors have however been mixed on when an updated ‌iPad Pro‌ sporting Mini-LED technology may arrive, with the earliest projections claiming this fall, and the latest claiming the first half of 2021.

Apple Pay has gained several new partners in Europe this month, including American Express in the Netherlands, ING in Italy, Santander in Portugal, and UBS in Switzerland, according to a recently updated list on Apple's website. Canadian carrier Rogers has also introduced Apple Pay support for its line of Mastercards.

Apple Pay launched in 2014 in the United States and is now available in over 40 countries around the world. To add a card to Apple Pay, open the Wallet app on an iPhone and tap the plus sign in the top-right corner. Your card issuer will verify your information.