MacRumors

Apple is "stepping up efforts" to develop its own search technology as U.S. antitrust authorities target a lucrative deal between Apple and Google that keeps Google's search engine the default option on Apple devices, according to a new paywalled Financial Times report.

In iOS 14, Apple shows its own web search results and links directly to websites when users type queries from the home screen. The changes were noticed back in August, but the report claims they add to "growing evidence" that Apple is working to build a rival to Google search.

In a little-noticed change to the latest version of the iPhone operating system, iOS 14, Apple has begun to show its own search results and link directly to websites when users type queries from its home screen.

That web search capability marks an important advance in Apple's in-house development and could form the foundation of a fuller attack on Google, according to several people in the industry.

The Silicon Valley company is notoriously secretive about its internal projects, but the move adds to growing evidence that it is working to build a rival to Google's search engine.

The report highlights Apple's hiring two years ago of John Giannandrea, Google's former head of search, to improve artificial intelligence capabilities and improve Siri, and cites Apple's "frequent" job advertisements for search engineers as evidence pointing to Apple's search ambitions.

The report also points to increased activity from Applebot, Apple's web crawler, which has previously led to conjecture about how Apple could be planning to launch a full-fledged search engine, although Applebot chiefly operates to improve ‌Siri‌ and Spotlight search results.

Overall, the report adds little to what we already know, and is more reliant on industry speculation in light of the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit filed against Google last week that claims the company used anticompetitive and exclusionary practices in the search and advertising markets to maintain an unlawful monopoly.

Apple receives an estimated eight to 12 billion dollars per year in exchange for making Google the default search engine on its devices and services. Prosecutors claim that the deal is representative of illegal tactics used to protect Google's monopoly and stifle competition. Meanwhile, Apple is under fire for facilitating anticompetitive behavior by acquiescing to the deal and extracting more money with regular renegotiations.

The legal intervention poses a threat to a significant chunk of Apple's revenue, but it is a bigger danger for Google, which would seemingly have no way to replace the traffic it would lose. The New York Times has previously speculated that a breakup could push Apple to acquire or build its own rival search engine, but as yet there's been no hard evidence of such a move.

iPhone 12 models could have an inactive wireless charging feature for accessories, according to an FCC filing discovered by VentureBeat's Jeremy Horwitz.

In the filing, Apple said that 2020 iPhones support a wireless charging function that will seemingly be enabled for at least one future Apple accessory:

In addition to being able to be charged by a desktop WPT charger (puck), 2020 iPhones also support WPT charging function at 360 kHz to charge accessories. Currently the only accessory that can be charged by iPhones is an external potential apple accessory in future.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman speculated that one of these accessories could be new AirPods with MagSafe support, which could allow the AirPods case to magnetically attach and charge on the back of iPhone 12 models. It would also be reasonable if Apple's long-awaited AirTags item trackers were able to be charged on the back of an iPhone 12.

Two-way charging was a feature rumored for the iPhone 11 lineup in 2019, but Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo later said the feature was possibly abandoned because "the charging efficiency may not meet Apple's requirements."

Samsung's Galaxy S21, coming in 2021, may not include a power adapter or headphones in the box, according to reports from Korean media sites highlighted by SamMobile.

Rumors earlier this year also said that Samsung was considering removing these accessories from future smartphone models, but that didn't stop Samsung from mocking Apple for selling the iPhone 12 models without a power adapter or EarPods.

Apple's ‌iPhone‌ 12 models ship with just a USB-C to Lightning cable. When announcing the change, Apple said that the accessories were eliminated for environmental reasons, but there has been speculation that Apple removed the power adapter and EarPods to cut costs due to the expense of the 5G modems used in the new ‌iPhone‌ lineup.

With a major competitor no longer offering accessories like power adapters and EarPods, Samsung too may want to save some cash by selling accessories on the side rather than including them with smartphones. Korean sources suggest that the power adapter and headphones could be removed across the entire S21 lineup, though there is a chance that Samsung will offer the power adapter while removing the headphones.

Samsung has in the past mocked Apple's design and product decisions before doing the exact same thing. When Apple removed the headphone jack from the ‌iPhone‌ 7 in 2016, for example, Samsung made fun of the iPhone before turning around and removing the headphone jack from the 2018 Galaxy S8.

Apple announced the new 2020 fourth-generation iPad Air in September, but the new tablets just started shipping out to customers last Friday. We picked one up and thought we'd do a hands-on comparison with the iPad Pro, which was last updated in March, because both tablets are about as powerful and share many similarities.

Design and Size

When it comes to design, the 11-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ and the 10.9-inch ‌iPad Air‌ look quite similar with flat edges like the iPhone 12, a camera bump at the back, and an edge-to-edge display with no Home button. Note that in the video, we're comparing the ‌iPad Air‌ to a 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ because we don't have an 11-inch model on hand, but aside from size, it too is identical to the ‌iPad Air‌.

The ‌iPad Pro‌ models come in silver and space gray, but Apple added fun new colors with the ‌iPad Air‌. It comes in silver, space gray, rose gold, blue, and green.

Display

The ‌iPad Air‌ is just a bit smaller than the 11-inch ‌iPad Pro‌, and the bezels around the display are a bit thicker. It's not a huge difference, but with both tablets side by side, it's noticeable. Other than that, display quality is similar, with one notable exception: the ‌iPad Pro‌ supports 120Hz ProMotion refresh rates for smoother scrolling and a better overall experience.

Is it worth shelling out more for an ‌iPad Pro‌ over an ‌iPad Air‌ just for ProMotion? Probably not, but it's a noticeable omission that's one of the bigger ‌iPad Air‌ downsides.

Both the ‌iPad Air‌ and ‌iPad Pro‌ support the Apple Pencil 2, and it's worth noting that writing and sketching is somewhat smoother with the ProMotion display.

Biometric Authentication

The ‌iPad Pro‌ is equipped with a TrueDepth Camera System that works with Face ID to unlock the iPad through facial recognition, while the ‌iPad Air‌ returns to an old favorite: Touch ID.

There's no ‌Touch ID‌ Home button, but there is ‌Touch ID‌ built into the power button at the top of the device. It's fast and effortless, but you do need to reach up to the top of the ‌iPad‌ to unlock it, and it's not as seamless of an experience as ‌Face ID‌, especially when you're using accessories like the Magic Keyboard. On ‌iPad Pro‌, you can wake it with the keyboard and then it instantly unlocks after scanning your face, but on ‌iPad Air‌, this is a two-step process.

Cameras

The ‌iPad Air‌ has a single-lens wide-angle rear camera and no LiDAR Scanner, while the ‌iPad Pro‌ has a dual-lens camera with wide-angle and ultra wide-angle lens options, along with the LiDAR Scanner for enhanced AR capabilities.

If you don't use your ‌iPad‌ for pictures this should be no big deal, and the same goes for those who aren't into augmented reality apps. Both have the same front-facing 7-megapixel camera, but the ‌iPad Pro‌ has TrueDepth camera features too.

Speakers

The ‌iPad Air‌ has four speaker cutouts like the ‌iPad Pro‌, but there are only two stereo speakers instead of four. There's a definite difference in sound, and the ‌iPad Pro‌ comes out ahead.

A12Z vs. A14

The ‌iPad Air‌ has the same A14 chip that's in the ‌iPhone‌ 12, while the ‌iPad Pro‌ is using the older A12Z chip. In our Geekbench tests, the ‌iPad Air‌'s A14 came out on top, but the A12Z has an extra GPU core that gives it the edge when it comes to GPU performance. We haven't noticed differences in photo or video editing, though, and both are capable devices.

As for RAM, the ‌iPad Air‌ has 4GB and the ‌iPad Pro‌ has 6GB RAM.

Battery Life

Battery life seems to be about the same between the ‌iPad Air‌ and the ‌iPad Pro‌. Apple advertises 10 hours of surfing the web and video playback for both.

Pricing and Storage

The 10.9-inch ‌iPad Air‌ starts at $599 for 64GB storage, while the 11-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ starts at $799 for 128GB of storage. There is no 128GB ‌iPad Air‌, and the 256GB model costs $749. The 256GB 11-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ is $899, and upgrading to the larger 12.9-inch screen is also expensive with that model starting at $999.

The ‌iPad Air‌ is much more affordable than the ‌iPad Pro‌ if you can work with 64GB storage, but that may not be enough for some people. $799 for the 128GB ‌iPad Pro‌ vs. $749 for the 256GB ‌iPad Air‌ is a smaller price differential and something to keep in mind if 64GB storage isn't enough.

Bottom Line

For most people, the ‌iPad Air‌ is the ‌iPad‌ to choose. It's more powerful with the A14 chip and offers many of the same features, plus it has ‌Touch ID‌ for those ‌Touch ID‌ fans out there. It lacks when it comes to the display because it doesn't have ProMotion, but it's more affordable, faster, and available in better colors, all of which give it an edge over the ‌iPad Pro‌ at this time.

The ‌iPad Pro‌ still wins out if you want the more advanced LiDAR Scanner and camera features and the ProMotion display, or if you need the larger 12.9-inch form factor which is not available with the ‌iPad Air‌.

More than five weeks after release, iOS 14 adoption is set to overtake iOS 13 as the most installed version of iOS, according to data obtained from Mixpanel's iOS 14 adoption tracker.

Apple hasn't shared iOS 14 installation numbers of its own, but Mixpanel's iOS 14 adoption tracker monitors the number of devices that have each operating system installed. According to Mixpanel's numbers at the time of writing, iOS 14 is installed on more than 46.07 percent of devices, which is just about equal with the 46.57 percent of devices running iOS 13.

Over the course of the last week, data has also shifted on an hourly basis with iOS 14 occasionally overtaking iOS 13 as new devices are activated and counted in Mixpanel's data.

iOS 14 in the next day or two will surpass iOS 13 as the most installed version of iOS and should steadily rise from there. At the current time, 7.36 percent of devices also continue to run a version of iOS earlier than iOS 13, and those likely represent older devices unable to be upgraded to newer software.

Adoption of iOS 14 is about on pace with adoption of iOS 13, but it's a little bit behind. iOS 13 was installed on 50 percent of all devices on October 16, 2019, with iOS 14 taking longer to hit that exact target.

The slower adoption of iOS 14 is something of a surprise given that the update introduces a new Home screen design and support for Home screen widgets, plus the App Library, compact UI with smaller phone calls, Translate app, and updates to Maps, Siri, HomeKit, Health, Messages, and more. Full details on all of the new features in iOS 14 can be found in our roundup.

Apple earlier this year acquired artificial intelligence startup Vilynx with the aim of improving the Siri voice assistant built into Apple devices, reports Bloomberg.

The Vilynx website is now defunct, but the company described itself as "AI for media," and it developed tools to help media companies compete against Netflix and other major media giants. Vilynx had a tool that catalogued raw video to make it searchable, providing metadata for video, text, and images. It processed video and then provided relevant content tags.

The service also generated rich, motion previews of content offerings, and provided search tools for surfacing content across videos, articles, and images. It also included an AI-powered recommendations platform while also offering tools to see trending topics on websites and social media.

Apple could potentially use the Vilynx technology to bolster ‌Siri‌ and other AI-based software on Apple devices, such as Photos. Apple paid about $50 million for the company, with the acquisition confirmed through Apple's traditional statement: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

Vilynx's Barcelona office will continue to run under Apple, with Apple planning to turn it into a main AI research and development center in Europe. Approximately 50 Vilynx engineers and data scientists are remaining at Apple, and Apple is hiring additional engineers for the new office.

Apple has made several Siri-related purchases in recent years, acquiring Inductiv, Voysis, Xnor.ai, Turi, Tuplejump, and more.

Last week, a listing appeared in the Bluetooth product database for an Apple product with a placeholder name "B2002" and a model number of "TBD." MacRumors was alerted to the listing by health and fitness tech website MyHealthyApple.

The product is filed under the "personal computer" category, which Apple has used for previous Mac and iPad listings in the database, so it is hard to pinpoint the listing to a specific product at this time. The listing could simply end up being for the new iPad Air unveiled last month, but it could also be for the first Apple Silicon Mac or something else.

The listing's Qualified Design IDs also correspond with previous listings for both Macs and iPads, so that doesn't help pinpoint things either.

Published on October 22, the listing was Apple's first public-facing entry in the Bluetooth product database since late 2019. However, since many Apple products use the same Bluetooth specifications, Apple is often able to simply update its previous listings in the database with new products as they are released.

Rumors suggest that Apple plans to unveil its first Mac with a custom Apple Silicon processor at a November 17 event. Other rumored products in Apple's pipeline include its long-awaited AirTags item trackers, AirPods Studio over-ear headphones, and a new gaming-focused Apple TV, but launch dates for those products are less certain.

We know that the first Apple Silicon Mac will arrive before the end of 2020, because Apple promised so in a press release earlier this year. At the time, Apple said it also still had "exciting" new Intel-based Macs in development.

The relationship between longtime partners Apple and Foxconn is eroding due to a battle over profit margins, according to a new report from The Information. While Apple's gross profit margins are close to 40 percent, Foxconn's profit margins are in the single-digit percentage points, leading Foxconn to employ questionable tactics in an effort to grow its profits.

For manufacturing projects, Foxconn routinely tells Apple that it hired more workers than it actually did. Foxconn has also used Apple-owned equipment when making devices for Apple's rivals, and has taken shortcuts on component and product testing. As a result, Apple has increased monitoring and tracking of Foxconn employees and its equipment that's in Foxconn facilities.

More than two dozen former Foxconn and Apple employees told The Information that the relationship between the companies is changing as Apple seeks to diversify its supply chain. Apple originally spoke to Foxconn about manufacturing the AirPods Pro, for example, with Foxconn expecting to win the contract and retrofitting a facility for production purposes only to see the contract go to Foxconn's competitors.

Foxconn manufactures between 60 and 70 percent of the iPhones sold each year, and Apple is by far Foxconn's largest customer, so supply chain diversification is a major threat. Under Tim Cook, Apple has sought cost reductions and implemented aggressive audits of manufacturing lines.

To generate more profit, Foxconn has tried selling its own equipment for manufacturing and component testing with limited success, as well as moving some manufacturing products in-house. Foxconn developed its own chemicals for polishing the iPhone's screen rather than relying on chemicals from a Japanese company, for example.

Foxconn has disregarded some of Apple's policies, using Apple equipment for non-Apple products as mentioned above and providing Google employees with a tour of a Foxconn factory manufacturing the 12-inch MacBook ahead of its release. Foxconn also reportedly cuts corners with manufacturing. With the ‌iPhone‌ 7, some reject phones had loose screws or tiny bits of metal that were supposed to be disassembled, but Foxconn instead opened the flawed phones, removed debris, and resealed them to avoid wasting materials, a process hidden from Apple.

More detail on the souring relationship between Foxconn and Apple and additional examples of tension between the two companies can be found in The Information's full report, which is well worth reading.

Apple's iPhone and iPad have supported gaming controllers for quite some time now, and there are several on the market, but the new Backbone One controller is being praised as one of the best new controllers to use with Apple's iPhones for mobile gaming.

The Backbone One connects to the sides of the ‌iPhone‌ and offers a standard controller layout with clickable thumb sticks, d-pad, analog triggers, action buttons, and more. It's designed to fit all of Apple's iPhones and works with any ‌iPhone‌ that has iOS 13 or later installed. There's a Lightning connector on one side that plugs into the ‌iPhone‌'s Lightning port for connectivity, so Bluetooth is not required and latency remains low.

The Backbone One features a dedicated button for recording gameplay or taking screenshots, and games can be recorded at up to 1080p at 30 frames per second. A Backbone app button also launches right into the Backbone app, and there's a 3.5mm headphone jack for use with headsets. Since it connects over Lightning, charging is not required.

With the Backbone One app, users can launch games and access game recordings, plus interact with friends through social features. When someone you're friends with also has a Backbone One, when a game is started you receive a push notification and can join in and you can communicate with one another.

Any game that supports game controllers is compatible with the Backbone One, including Apple Arcade games. Multiple reviews of the Backbone One have gone live today, and the controller is getting heavy praise. Wired said the controller has the exact layout you'll find on a console controller, and that it's so "immersive and well designed" that it's easy to forget you're playing on a phone.

The Verge said that Backbone "makes the ‌iPhone‌ feel like a bona fide gaming platform" and that the app features feel like "a gaming experience that somehow beats Apple to the punch of fleshing out its own gaming ambitions."

The Backbone One is priced at $99 and it must be purchased through the Backbone app. [Direct Link]

T-Mobile today announced the launch of new streaming service options that include TVision LIVE, VIBE, and CHANNELS, all of which work with a new TVision Hub.

TVision LIVE is priced between $40 and $60 per month and offers up live news, sports, and other content along with on-demand TV shows and 100 hours of cloud DVR. Full details on all of the available channels can be found on T-Mobile's website.

TVision VIBE is priced at $10 per month and offers over 30 channels from the "most-watched networks on TV" with thousands of shows on demand. TVision Channels allows users to create their own unique mix of channels by subscribing to existing services through T-Mobile at prices starting at $5.99 per month, with support for STARZ, SHOWTIME, and EPIX at launch.

According to T-Mobile, TVision is available exclusively to T-Mobile postpaid customers, with TVision content available on Apple and Android mobile devices, Apple TV, smart TVs, and the TVision HUB, T-Mobile's version of a TV dongle complete with remote.

As a perk for TVision subscribers, T-Mobile is offering customers who sign up for the TVision Live TV+ or Live Zone options ($50 and $60 per month, respectively) a free year's subscription of ‌Apple TV‌+ along with an option to purchase an ‌Apple TV‌ 4K for $99, which is an $80 savings after a rebate.

TVision launches on November 1, and the ‌Apple TV‌+ deal is available starting on that date through December 31.

Linksys today announced that its new Linksys Velop AX4200 WiFi 6 Mesh System is available for purchase, adding to its lineup of WiFi 6 router products.

The Velop AX4200 is Linksys' new flagship WiFi mesh system, designed to provide the latest WiFi 6 connectivity at an affordable price. The AX4200 is powered by the Qualcomm Networking Pro 800 platform, featuring eight streams of tri-band WiFi 6 connectivity and a 64-bit 1.4GHz ARM processor powering dynamic data processing and management.

The new Velop mesh system covers 2,700 square feet per node and offers gigabit WiFi speeds. Each node can manage the demands of more than 40 devices, and is equipped with four gigabit ethernet ports. The system is scalable and compatible with other Linksys mesh nodes and routers, so consumers can expand as their needs grow.

According to Linksys, the Velop AX4200 is ideal in households that are working and learning from home, providing enough wireless bandwidth for multiple smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and more.

The Linksys Velop AX4200 Mesh System with one node is available for $250, while the AX4200 with three nodes is available for $500. Purchases can be made from the Linksys website starting today.

A newly-published patent filing has revealed that Apple is developing a protective layer to resist cracking on foldable displays, as well as improve scratch resistance and durability (via Patently Apple).

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office filing, titled "Hybrid coverlay/window structure for flexible display applications," outlines how curved, flexible, or foldable display modules could use a protective hardcoat layer to circumvent cracking. Apple appears to be seeking to remedy display cracking issues that have afflicted some Samsung devices.

The patent notes that "typically, glass fracture initiates from the presence of micro-cracks." Apple's hardcoat layer would fill pre-existing micro-cracks and therefore make it harder for a serious crack to develop.

The additional protective layer would be placed directly on top of the display. It would be "engineered to have a sufficiently high hardness and tensile strength to function as an exterior protective coating for the electronic device... Thus, the hardcoat layer is sufficiently durable for high puncture and scratch resistance."

Images attached to the patent included simple illustrations of foldable devices, with both inwardly and outwardly-foldable displays.

Although a foldable device from Apple does not seem to be on the horizon any time soon, the company has been heavily researching and developing the technology. In September, Apple reportedly ordered a "large number" of Samsung foldable display samples.

In 2019, Apple strengthened the glass on iPhone 11 and ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro, and this year with the ‌iPhone‌ 12 and ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro, the company introduced Ceramic Shield. Ceramic Shield is a strengthened glass that reportedly improves drop performance by up to four times.

The patent therefore seems to show the intersection between Apple's separate research on glass durability and foldable displays.

We're tracking a collection of iPad Pro deals today, offered from retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, B&H Photo, Adorama, and Tiger Direct. Today's savings include markdowns on both Wi-Fi and cellular versions of the 2020 iPad Pro.

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

Some of the most notable deals today include savings on the cellular models of the newest iPad Pro devices, with up to $49 off these tablets. In total, you can save up to $70 in today's big iPad Pro sale, with nearly every version of the 2020 iPad Pro seeing notable discounts across these five retailers.

11-Inch iPad Pro

• Wi-Fi 128GB - $749.00 at Amazon / B&H Photo ($50 off, lowest price)
• Wi-Fi 256GB - $849.00 at Amazon / B&H Photo / Tiger Direct ($50 off)
• Wi-Fi 512GB - $1,028.00 at Amazon ($71 off, lowest price)
• Wi-Fi 1TB - $1,229.00 at Amazon / Tiger Direct ($70 off)
• Cellular 128GB - $899.99 at Amazon / Best Buy ($49 off, lowest price)
• Cellular 256GB - $999.99 at Amazon / Best Buy ($49 off, lowest price)
• Cellular 512GB - $1,199.99 at Amazon / Best Buy ($49 off, lowest price)
• Cellular 1TB - $1,399.99 at Amazon / Best Buy ($49 off, lowest price)

12.9-Inch iPad Pro

• Wi-Fi 128GB - $949.00 at Amazon / B&H Photo ($50 off, lowest price)
• Wi-Fi 256GB - $1,044.05 at Amazon ($55 off)
• Wi-Fi 512GB - $1,229.00 at Amazon / B&H Photo / Tiger Direct ($70 off, lowest price)
• Wi-Fi 1TB - $1,424.05 at Amazon ($75 off, lowest ever)
• Cellular 128GB - $1,099.99 at Best Buy ($49 off, lowest price)
• Cellular 256GB - $1,199.99 at Amazon / Best Buy ($49 off, lowest price)
• Cellular 512GB - $1,399.99 at Amazon / Best Buy ($49 off)
• Cellular 1TB - $1,599.99 at Amazon / Best Buy ($49 off, lowest price)

For even more iPad deals, head to our full Best Deals guide for iPad. In that guide we track the best discounts online for iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro.

Apple Music received a redesign in iOS 14 with a more personalized Listen Now tab, an improved search experience, autoplay functionality, and more, and these features have just been rolled out to the Android version of the app.

Version 3.4 of Apple Music for Android has also gained a crossfade feature. When enabled through the app's playback settings, songs will overlap and crossfade, with users able to set a crossfade duration of up to 12 seconds. Interestingly, this feature is not available in Apple Music on the iPhone or iPad, although it is an option in the Music app on Mac.

According to the Play Store release notes, Apple Music for Android has also gained sharing to Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat Stories, as well as improved app performance. There's also a security patch, according to an Apple support document.