MacRumors iPhone and iPad Blog: Apps, News, and Rumors

After an announcement in July that Foxconn will build a $10 billion LCD panel manufacturing plant in southeast Wisconsin, a new report out today states that the Apple supplier is now planning to build three "ancillary facilities" in Wisconsin as well (via Reuters). The three buildings are planned to be opened for operation as early as 2018, two years ahead of when the main LCD facility is...

Contactless payment methods like Apple Pay will rise sharply in the United States, from less than 2 percent of transactions this year to 34 percent by 2022, according to a new report shared by research firm Juniper Research. Payment terminal with chip-and-PIN card support via Worldpay Juniper Research argued that customer dissatisfaction at the slower speeds of chip card transactions, like...

Barclays has become the first bank in the U.K. to announce Siri support for its mobile banking app, enabling account holders to make payments to anyone in their iPhone contacts list completely handsfree using the virtual assistant. Following the update, customers will be able to make payments by saying, for instance, "Hey Siri, pay Anna £15 with Barclays", without having to open the app....

Apple has informed educational institutions with iTunes U content that it will migrate iTunes U collections to Apple Podcasts when iTunes 12.7 is released in September (via MacStories). Apple launched iTunes U in 2007 as a free repository of educational content through the iTunes Store, allowing educators to create course collections comprising audio, media, handouts, ebooks, and other...

On Monday, August 21, all of the continental United States will have the chance to view a solar eclipse, and depending on where you're located you might even be able to see a total solar eclipse. The eclipse's "path of totality" -- or the shadow of the moon as it moves in front of the sun -- will begin in Oregon and end in South Carolina, and anyone sitting outside the path will be witness to a...

iOS 11 patches an exploit that could be used to crack an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus passcode using a $500 hardware hacking solution, Apple confirmed to TechCrunch this afternoon. The exploit, demonstrated by YouTube user EverythingApplePro yesterday, was never really of any concern to iPhone users because of the extreme parameters required to make it work in a timely manner, according to TechCru...

We're only a few days away from a major solar eclipse in the USA, and I suspect tons of people will be spending quite a bit of time this weekend either driving to the path of the eclipse on the 21st or waiting for it to actually happen on the day. Few things go better with sitting in a car (provided you're not the one driving) or waiting in general than iOS gaming, so if you're looking for...

Deloitte this week announced it has been selected to redesign Chipotle Mexican Grill's mobile ordering app for iOS and Android. Chipotle plans to launch the new apps in the fall of 2017, and one of the key new features will include in-app support for Apple Pay and Android Pay. The burrito chain launched its mobile ordering app way back in 2009, allowing customers to order ahead of time...

Images purporting to show the A11 series chip that will power the upcoming "iPhone 8" emerged online today, suggesting that Apple's processor is already making its way through iPhone assembly plants. All iPhone models coming in the fall are expected to use the A11 chip, including the iterative "S" cycle upgrades to Apple's existing 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhones. The processor relies on a new...

A hacker released what he claimed to be a firmware decryption key for Apple's Secure Enclave on Thursday, initially sparking fears that iOS security had been compromised. Apple's Secure Enclave Processor (SEP) handles all cryptographic operations for the Apple Watch Series 2, the A7 processor that powers the iPhone 5s, the iPad Air, the iPad mini 2 and 3, and subsequent A-series chips. The...

Overall Apple Watch shipments are expected to rise to 4.5 million units in the fourth quarter of this year and could reach 15 million for the whole of 2017, according to sources in the upstream supply chain (via DigiTimes). Those predictions bode well for Apple as it prepares to launch its third-generation smartwatch, but the figures stand in stark contrast to other vendors of wearable...

Each week, Apple chooses an "App of the Week" to highlight, which means it can be downloaded for free. This week's pick is a board game named Tsuro: The Game of the Path, which is normally priced at $2.99. Since its launch in February of 2016, Tsuro has not been made available for free. Tsuro is tile-based board game where the objective is to slide your stone along the pathway, avoiding...

YouTube's streaming television service, YouTube TV, today expanded to an additional 14 markets, making it available to approximately 50 percent of the homes in the United States. Areas gaining access to YouTube TV today include Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Columbus, OH, Jacksonville-Brunswick, Las Vegas, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Seattle-Tacoma, Tampa-St....

Instagram today announced the addition of new ways to reply to photos and videos to improve Direct conversations with friends. When replying to a direct message of a photo or video sent from a friend, Instagram users can now reply with a photo or a video of their own. Hit the "Reply" button on a message to open the camera and create a photo to send. All replies include a sticker of the image...

McDonald's is generating lots of buzz today after it used an iPhone 8 mockup in an ad promoting its mymacca's mobile ordering app in Australia. McDonald's promotional email courtesy of MacRumors reader Amir T. The ad, emailed to many customers on Thursday, clearly shows a rendered iPhone with a nearly full front display, beyond a notch for the front-facing camera, earpiece, and sensors for...

Hot on the heels of news that Apple has set aside $1 billion for original TV programming over the next year, Netflix revealed on Wednesday that it will spend seven times that amount in 2018. In a new interview with Variety, Netflix's chief content officer Ted Sarandos quoted the number of $7 billion, which is up from more than $6 billion in 2017 and $5 billion in 2016. The vast majority of...

Images claiming to offer a glimpse of the wireless charging pad circuitry to be paired with Apple's upcoming "iPhone 8" have been shared on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo today by technology website ZEALER (via iClarified). The two photos show several assembled inductive charging kits in a plastic tray and a black PCB board of bare circuitry modeled on the assembled kits. As with most...

AT&T today announced that it's reactivated a deal offering new DirecTV Now subscribers a 32GB fourth-generation Apple TV at no cost with the purchase of a 3-month prepaid DirecTV Now subscription. A DirecTV NOW subscription starts at $35 per month for the most basic package, so subscribers will need to pay $105 up front to get the deal. AT&T offered a similar deal back when the service first...