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This week’s top stories: Apple Silicon event, HomePod mini and iPhone 12 pre-orders, iOS 14.2, more

Chance Miller | Nov 8 2020 - 9:10 am PT

In this week’s top stories: Apple announces Apple Silicon event for November 10, new AirPods 3 images, HomePod mini and more iPhone 12 pre-orders. Read on for all of this week’s top stories.

November 10 event

Apple this week officially announced its third event in as many months. The event will take place on November 10 at 10 a.m. PT, and Apple is teasing the event with the hashtag “One more thing.”

Apple’s November event will be live-streamed across Apple’s website, in the Apple TV app, and on YouTube. It’s completely remote and virtual due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Apple Silicon details

This November event is expected to focus on the upcoming transition to Apple Silicon in the Mac lineup, with Apple having promised its first Apple Silicon machine would come before the end of the year.

A Bloomberg report this week indicated that Apple will announce at least two new Apple Silicon Macs, including a new 13-inch MacBook Pro and a new MacBook Air. Apple is also said to be increasing production of a new 16-inch MacBook Pro with Apple Silicon, but it’s unclear whether this machine will be announced this year.

Looking ahead to the rest of the Mac lineup, Bloomberg also added that Apple is developing a new Mac Pro that’s roughly have the size of the current model, as well as a new Mac mini and a new iMac, all of which will feature Apple Silicon.

AirPods 3 leak

Rumors of new AirPods have gained traction this week. Newly leaked images on Wednesday claimed to offer our first look at AirPods 3 with an AirPods Pro-inspired design. This comes after a separate report last month indicated that Apple is working on new AirPods and AirPods Pro for 2021.

You can get a look at the leaked AirPods 3 images right here.

Spotify for Apple Watch

Spotify officially started rolling out support for streaming music directly on Apple Watch this week. This comes two years after Spotify released the first version of its Apple Watch, and two months after Spotify started testing the feature with a very small subset of users.

The feature is available to many Apple Watch users now, but Spotify has cautioned that it’s still a beta and that it may take some time for the new standalone streaming option to be available to all Apple Watch owners..

iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro Max, and HomePod mini

Rounding out this week, Apple has opened pre-orders for the iPhone 12 mini, the iPhone 12 Pro Max, and the HomePod mini.

As a refresher, the iPhone 12 mini features a 5.4-inch display with a feature set that is nearly identical to the 6.1-inch iPhone 12. The iPhone 12 Pro Max is the largest iPhone ever made, packing a 6.7-inch display alongside a triple-lens camera array with a larger sensor, a LiDAR scanner, and more.

The iPhone 12 mini starts at $699, while the iPhone 12 Pro Max starts at $1099. The HomePod mini goes for $99.

These and the rest of this week’s top stories below.

iOS | tvOS |

iPhone |

Apple Watch |

Apple releases watchOS 7.1 with expanded ECG support, headphone level alerts, screen issue fix

Mac |

iPad |

Apps |

AirPods |

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