While it is unclear if the widely rumored 16-inch MacBook Pro will launch in 2019 or 2020, the latest report from DigiTimes claims that Apple will begin receiving volume shipments of the notebook in the fourth quarter of this year. Taiwan-based manufacturer Quanta Computer is said to be the key supplier.

The report reiterates that the 16-inch MacBook Pro will have an ultra-thin-bezel design, suggesting the overall size of the notebook might be similar to the existing 15-inch MacBook Pro despite having a larger display.

16-inch MacBook Pro concept by MacRumors

Apple receiving volume shipments of the 16-inch MacBook Pro in the fourth quarter does not necessarily mean the notebook will launch in the fourth quarter. Apple may simply be planning to stockpile the 16-inch MacBook Pro ahead of the U.S. government’s proposed 15 percent import tariff on an additional round of Chinese goods, including notebooks, slated to take effect December 15.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo originally said the 16-inch MacBook Pro would launch in the fourth quarter of 2019 with an all-new design, including a scissor switch keyboard. As of late, however, Kuo has more vaguely stated that a “new MacBook model” with a scissor keyboard will launch in mid 2020. It’s unclear if the “new MacBook model” that Kuo has referred to more recently is the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Multiple images corresponding to a 16-inch MacBook Pro have been found in macOS Catalina in recent weeks, including one that reveals that Touch ID will likely be separated from the Touch Bar on the notebook.

The leaked Touch Bar design lends credence to the Esc key also being a separate, physical key again, as can be seen when zooming in to the previously leaked 16-inch MacBook Pro icon.

MacRumors has confirmed the location of the Touch Bar image in macOS Catalina. The filename includes “Device16.”

Leaked 16-inch MacBook Pro vs current 15-inch MacBook Pro image. Touch Bar and size differences pic.twitter.com/b1qJvuo2hM

— MacRumors.com (@MacRumors) October 31, 2019

DigiTimes previously said the 16-inch MacBook Pro would launch by the end of October, and today is the final day of the month. The site does not have the best track record when it comes to the timing of new Apple products, but its connections within Apple’s supply chain are occasionally accurate.

This article, “Apple Said to Receive 16-Inch MacBook Pro Shipments This Quarter, Launch Timing Remains Unclear” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple has bought the “AirTag” trademark for its rumored item tracking device from a Russian group of companies that specializes in RFID technology, according to a Russian media outlet.

RBC reports that a group called ISBC, which describes itself as “The leading smart card and RFID tag manufacturer in Russia,” recently sold Apple the “AirTag” trademark as part of an agreement that would see the group develop its products under a single brand, according to a source familiar with the details of the transaction.

In a statement posted on the ISBC website today, the group confirmed that it had completed a transaction to transfer the rights to the “AirTag” trademark, but said that details about buyer would not be disclosed under the terms of confidentiality.

ISBC® group of companies have decided to bet on enhancing development of its own products under a single namesake trademark ISBC®. This rebranding decision is very much conditioned by international deal on assignment of the trademark AIRTAG®.

[…]

Transfer of RFID keyfobs from AIRTAG® brand to our flagship one – ISBC® – evidences our confidence in future of the product and solutions related. Confidentiality agreed does not allow us to disclose the deal in detail. But we may express our confidence the the future of AIRTAG® trademark we have envisaged and registered internationally will be bright, the whole world will learn and love the new product so named.

On Monday, the public release of iOS 13.2 revealed information suggesting Apple may be planning to call its rumored Tile-like item tracking accessory “AirTags.”

Looking into the status of trademark activity surrounding the term, MacRumors came across some curious recent developments that could be signs of Apple acquiring the trademark rights, although a smoking gun concretely linking Apple to the activity was unavailable at the time.

Apple is rumored to be working on Tile-like Bluetooth trackers that can be used to keep track of items that are often lost, such as keys, wallets, and more.

Multiple rumors have confirmed Apple’s work on ‌‌AirTags‌‌, which are expected, based on leaked assets, to be little round circles that can be attached to your items to make them locatable through the Find My app right alongside your Apple devices.

‌‌AirTags‌‌ will connect to iPhones, iPads, Macs, and more via Bluetooth, and will leverage the ultra-wideband U1 chip in the newest iPhones for more precise indoor tracking that’s unmatched by competitors.

As we found earlier this year, there will also be an augmented reality component that will let you use your device’s camera to pinpoint exactly where a lost item might be. Longer-range tracking will also be available, and ‌‌AirTags‌‌ will likely take advantage of the offline crowd-sourced tracking feature that was added in ‌iOS 13‌.

There is no word on when ‌‌AirTags‌‌ will be released, but given that Apple has been adding new details to each beta, there’s a possibility that the accessories are coming this year, perhaps even quite soon.

(Thanks, Sergey!)

This article, “Apple Did Buy Rights to ‘AirTag’ Trademark, Source Confirms” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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iFixit today shared a teardown of the new $249 AirPods Pro, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the organization awarded Apple’s latest wireless earphones the same zero repairability score as both versions of original AirPods.

Apart from the replaceable $4-a-pair proprietary silicone tips that provide noise isolation and enhanced fit on the ‌AirPods Pro‌, it’s the same story as Apple’s previous generation ‌AirPods‌ as far as repairs go. But there were a couple of new tidbits of information that the disassembly did reveal.

In terms of weight, each AirPod Pro bud comes in at 0.19 oz (5.4 g), which is fully a third heavier than the prior version AirPod earbuds. The new charging case is also notably chunkier, weighing 1.61 oz (45.6 g), compared to the original case’s 1.34 oz (38 g).

iFixit also discovered a 1.98 Wh watch-style button cell battery inside each AirPod, replacing the pin-type battery found in the original ‌AirPods‌. iFixit notes that this could be the same battery found in Samsung’s Galaxy Buds, and those are replaceable, but Apple has tethered the battery to a soldered cable, so ‌AirPods‌ customers will have no such luck.

As noted by iFixit, Apple apparently confirmed on Wednesday that the new ‌AirPods Pro‌ are no more repairable than previous versions of the wireless earbuds because of their size and build process.

An update to Monday’s report: Apple has confirmed that the new ‌AirPods Pro‌ are no more repairable than previous versions of the wireless earbuds. The pods are made partly with recyclable materials but due to size and build process (i.e glue) it doesn’t repair. Just replace.

— Lauren Goode (@LaurenGoode) October 30, 2019

For its part, however, iFixit believes Apple could theoretically replace the in-ear portion of the earbuds and re-use the original stems – which include the System on Package (SiP), antennas, microphones, and Force sensor – but the company has chosen not to do so, for whatever reason. iFixit’s teardown concludes:

While theoretically semi-serviceable, the non-modular, glued-together design and lack of replacement parts makes repair both impractical and uneconomical.

From a customer perspective, this means that once the battery dies in the ‌AirPods Pro‌, it will need to be completely replaced. The left and right AirPod cost $89 each to replace in the United States, totaling $178 for a pair.

However, the fees are lower if a customer has purchased AppleCare+ for Headphones. The plan costs $29 upfront, plus charges a $29 fee to replace a pair of damaged ‌AirPods Pro‌ or their case. This coverage applies for up to two years from the date ‌AppleCare‌+ is purchased and is limited to two incidents.

This article, “AirPods Pro Teardown: Heavier Than Original AirPods, Different Battery, Same Zero Repairability Score” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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This article explains how to delete your Siri audio interaction history and opt out of sharing audio recordings with Apple on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

• How to Opt Out of Siri Audio Sharing on HomePod
• How to Delete Your Siri Audio History on HomePod

Earlier this year, it was discovered that Apple hired contractors to listen to a small percentage of anonymized ‌Siri‌ recordings to evaluate the virtual assistant’s responses with the purpose of improving accuracy and reliability.

The Guardian revealed that Apple employees working on ‌Siri‌ often heard confidential details while listening to the audio recordings. Apple was subsequently criticized for not making it clear to customers that some of their ‌Siri‌ recordings were being used to improve the service.

Soon after the report, Apple suspended its ‌Siri‌ grading practices and promised users that it would introduce tools in a forthcoming update that would allow them to opt out of sharing their audio recordings.

With the release of iOS 13.2 in October, those new tools arrived on iPhone and ‌iPad‌, allowing users to delete their ‌Siri‌ and Dictation history and opt out of sharing audio recordings. With the release of the 13.2.1 software update for HomePod, the same tools are also available for Apple’s smart speaker.

It’s important to note that ‌HomePod‌’s ‌Siri‌ settings are independent from your iOS device’s ‌Siri‌ settings, so if you want to opt out of ‌Siri‌ Audio Sharing and delete your ‌Siri‌ audio history completely, you’ll have to disable them separately.

The following steps show you how to access these settings on ‌HomePod‌. To learn how to disable them on iPhone, ‌iPad‌, and ‌iPod touch‌, click here.

How to Opt Out of ‌Siri‌ Audio Sharing on ‌HomePod‌

1. Launch the Home app on your iPhone, ‌iPad‌, or ‌iPod touch‌.
2. Press and hold the ‌HomePod‌ button in your Favorite Accessories. If it’s not in your Favorites, tap the Rooms icon at the bottom of the screen and select the Room where your ‌HomePod‌ is located using the room selector in the top-left corner of the screen.
   
   
3. Tap the cog icon in the bottom-right corner of the ‌HomePod‌ card to take you to the device’s settings.
4. Tap Analytics & Improvements.
5. If you don’t want to let Apple review your recordings, toggle off the switch next to Improve ‌Siri‌ & Dictation.
   
   

Note that you can tap the link under the toggle for more information relating to Apple’s ‌Siri‌ analytics policy.

How to Delete Your ‌Siri‌ Audio History on ‌HomePod‌

1. Launch the Home app on your iPhone, ‌iPad‌, or ‌iPod touch‌.
2. Press and hold the ‌HomePod‌ button in your Favorite Accessories. If it’s not in your Favorites, tap the Rooms icon at the bottom of the screen and select the Room where your ‌HomePod‌ is located using the room selector in the top-left corner of the screen.
   
   
3. Tap the cog icon in the bottom-right corner of the ‌HomePod‌ card to take you to the device’s settings.
4. Tap ‌Siri‌ History.
   
   
5. Tap Delete ‌Siri‌ History.

Apple will inform you that your request was received and that your ‌Siri‌ and dictation history will be deleted. That’s all there is to it.

In addition to these new ‌Siri‌ and Dictation-related privacy features, Apple also says it is making further changes to its human grading process that will minimize the amount of data that reviewers have access to.

This article, “How to Delete Siri Audio History and Opt Out of Siri Audio Sharing on HomePod” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple’s chief financial officer Luca Maestri has provided a clue that the iPad Pro might not be refreshed in 2019.

Speaking on Apple’s earnings call this afternoon, Maestri said that Apple’s revenue guidance for the holiday quarter accounts for the fact that the iPad Pro will have different launch timing on a year-over-year basis. Apple’s holiday quarter runs from late September through the end of December.

In other words, while Apple refreshed its iPad Pro lineup in October 2018, Maestri is suggesting that there will not be another iPad Pro refresh until at least 2020 and that Apple has factored that decision into its guidance.

While multiple reports indicated that Apple planned to refresh the iPad Pro this October, it is unlikely with only one full day left in the month. One report did claim the iPad Pro will be updated in March 2020, a common month for an Apple event, and that timeframe is looking more likely in light of Maestri’s comments.

The next iPad Pro models are expected to feature 3D sensing added to the rear-facing camera system, which could be expanded to three lenses like iPhone 11 Pro models. On a speculative note, the iPad Pro could also potentially beat iPhone 12 models to 5G, in line with the iPad gaining LTE support before the iPhone in 2012.

March 2020 would make sense given the 12.9-inch iPad Pro has been refreshed once every 18 months or so on average. A refresh this fall would have been around only 12 months after the October 2018 refresh. But, nothing is for certain.

This article, “Apple’s CFO Suggests iPad Pro Won’t Be Refreshed in 2019” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple today released a new 13.2.1 software update for the HomePod, which comes a few days after the 13.2 update. Shortly after Apple’s 13.2 ‌HomePod‌ software was released, complaints of bricked devices surfaced.

Multiple users complained that the update rendered their HomePods nonfunctional, locking it into a boot loop, especially after resetting the device or removing it from the Home setup after installing the update.

Apple pulled the 13.2 software after a few hours, and warned customers against resetting their HomePods or removing them from the Home app.

The new 13.2.1 version of the software presumably does not feature the same bricking issue, and its release notes are the same as the 13.2 update:

iOS 13.2.1 provides support for new ‌‌HomePod‌‌ features:

– The ability for ‌‌HomePod‌‌ to recognize the voices of different family members to provide a personalized experience

– Handoff music, podcasts, or phone calls by bringing your iPhone close to ‌‌HomePod‌‌

– Add music to your ‌HomeKit‌ scenes

– Play relaxing high-quality soundtracks with Ambient Sounds

– Set sleep timers to fall asleep to music or Ambient Sounds

The new ‌‌HomePod‌‌ software will be installed automatically on the ‌‌HomePod‌‌, but you can also manually update and check your software version by following the instructions in our HomePod software how to.

Customers who did install the 13.2 update and ended up with a bricked ‌HomePod‌ will need to contact Apple for a replacement unit.

This article, “Apple Releases Updated 13.2.1 Software for HomePod After 13.2 Update Bricked Some Devices” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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With the launch of Apple TV+ approaching, Apple CEO Tim Cook was today asked about Apple’s plan to offer a free ‌Apple TV‌+ subscription to customers who purchase an Apple device, and whether that’s something that Apple plans to continue doing in the future.

According to Cook, Apple made the decision to offer a free ‌Apple TV‌+ subscription to customers who purchase a new ‌Apple TV‌, Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch because it would be a “good gift” for customers and because it would get the content into the hands of more people.

“We look at each service and decide what’s best to do for it,” Cook explained. He said that if you look at Apple’s other services, this isn’t something that’s happening beyond ‌Apple TV‌+, so it’s not part of a broader pattern.

“I won’t rule out that we won’t see another opportunity in the future,” Cook added, leaving the door open for the possibility of future hardware and services bundling options.

This article, “Tim Cook Explains Why Apple is Offering Free Apple TV+ With Hardware Purchase, Says He Won’t Rule Out Future Bundles” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple CEO Tim Cook today said that Apple set new fourth quarter revenue records for wearables in every market that it operates in thanks to strong sales of the Apple Watch, AirPods, and Beats headphones.

Cook said that Apple saw “amazing results” in the wearables, home, and accessories category with revenue hitting $6.5 billion. That’s up from $4.2 billion in the year-ago quarter, which is impressive growth. Cook said that Apple is “thrilled” with its wearables category specifically.

We’re thrilled with the results. As to what’s driving it – it’s the totality that’s driving it. For some people, it’s about fitness, for some people it’s about health, for some people it’s about communication, and for some people, it’s about all of the above. I think always-on for the Series 5 is a game changer for many of our users.

According to Cook, three quarters of ‌Apple Watch‌ buyers were new to ‌Apple Watch‌. Apple is still “significantly in the build mode” in terms of getting them in the hands of more consumers.

Cook also touched briefly on Apple’s focus on health. Cook said that Apple plans to improve on Health related efforts that it has now such as medical records and health research, but that there are also “things that we aren’t going to talk about just yet,” perhaps referring to future ‌Apple Watch‌ features.

“There will be a day that we look back and see Apple’s greatest contribution to people’s health,” Cook said.

This article, “Apple Sets New Q4 Wearables Record in Every Market” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Ahead of today’s earnings call covering the fourth fiscal quarter of 2019, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview with Reuters that iPhone 11 sales are off to a “very, very good start” so far, and the launch has led to improved sales in key markets like China.

In China in particular, the lower $699 starting price of the ‌iPhone 11‌ is “more similar to the price points that [Apple] had great success with in the past,” Cook said, which helped drive sales.

Apple is predicting strong holiday quarter sales with guidance between $85.5 billion to $89.5 billion, and Cook said that the guidance is based on strong sales of services and wearables as well as promising early sales of the new 2019 iPhones. Apple no longer provides specific sales data on the iPhone, so it’s difficult to determine how many of the new devices that Apple sold.

Cook said that the numbers also reflect Apple’s belief that the United States and China will resolve their trade dispute. “I don’t know every chapter of the book, but I think that will eventually happen,” Cook said. “I certainly hope it happens during the quarter, but we’ll see about that.”

Lowering iPhone prices for older iPhones in China has also helped slow mid-year sales declines. iPhone sales in China picked up towards the end of the quarter, and Apple also saw double-digit services revenue growth in China. Cook attributed it to several factors during the earnings call:

We had a very good September in the lead of that is sort of the reception of ‌iPhone 11‌ and 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max and so we feel really good about how we’ve gotten started there. As you can tell from the numbers, we’ve significantly improved from the beginning of the year.

There’s a very slight growth there. We obviously want that to be better, but we feel good about how we’re doing. I think it’s a combination of things that have turned things around. On a macro basis, I think the trade tension is less, which clearly looks positive.

Secondly, the products have been extremely well received there. Third, the things that we’ve done from a pricing, financing, and trade-in point of view, all of these things have moved the dial. It’s the sum of all that.

Cook also said that services, wearables, and other devices played a role in growing revenue in China alongside the iPhone. “Lots of positives there,” he said.

This article, “Apple CEO Tim Cook: iPhone 11 Sales Are Off to a ‘Very, Very Good Start’” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple’s services category, which includes iTunes, the App Store, the Mac App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, AppleCare, Apple Arcade, Apple News+ and more, is an important revenue driver for Apple amid flagging iPhone sales, leading Apple to focus more effort on its services category.

In the fourth fiscal quarter of 2019, Apple’s services segment brought in $12.5 billion, up from $10.6 billion in the year-ago quarter and $11.46 billion in the third quarter of 2019. Services grew 18 percent year-over-year, and Apple said that it saw growth in all regions around the world.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that almost every one of Apple’s services set new all-time revenue records, including its search ad business, ‌Apple Music‌, Apple Care, cloud services, and the ‌App Store‌. Apple’s services category is now the size of a Fortune 70 company by revenue.

450M paid subscribers across its services. Apple well on the way to surpassing the 500M mark during 2020.

For ‌Apple Pay‌, revenue and transactions more than doubled year over year with more than 3 billion transactions, growing four times as fast as PayPal. Apple now has 450 million paid subscribers across its services, and is on its way to surpassing the 500 million mark in 2020.

Apple later this week will unveil Apple TV+, a new $4.99 per month streaming television service. ‌Apple TV‌+ revenue will be limited for the first year as Apple is giving it away for free to customers who have purchased a new device, but along with ‌Apple News‌+, ‌Apple Arcade‌, and Apple Card, ‌Apple TV‌+ could drive significant services growth in the future.

This article, “Apple’s Services Revenue Hits New All-Time High of $12.5 Billion in Q4 2019” first appeared on MacRumors.com

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