Benjamin Mayo

The last few months have seen Apple rapidly implement technical and policy solutions to comply with the Digital Markets Act. That has seen the rollout of things like alternative app marketplaces, web distribution, alternative browsers, and more as part of iOS 17.4 and iOS 17.5 updates.

So far, those rules have only applied to the iPhone and iOS. But now, the European Commission has expanded the Digital Markets Act’s purview of products to include the iPad (via Bloomberg).

This morning, Apple announced expanded availability of the HomePod and HomePod mini, with orders starting for the first time in Malaysia and Thailand. The devices will start shipping next week, from May 10. That opens up the reach of HomePod mini and the ‘new’ HomePod (2nd generation) to a brand new market of customers.

Update: Apple will also launch HomePod 2 and HomePod mini in Turkey on May 10. Pre-orders are now available.

In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman gives us a few more hints about what to expect from iOS 18 in terms of upcoming new software changes for the iPhone.

Gurman writes that alongside the slate of artificial intelligence features, iOS 18 will include updates to most of the popular built-in apps on the iPhone, including overhauls for the Photos, Mail, Notes and Fitness apps. The Calculator app will be updated with new features, and made available on the iPad for the first time.

Alongside the new iPad Pro and iPad Air lineup, Apple’s May 7 event will also feature updates to the iPad accessories, with new generation of Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports today that the new Pencil will include haptic feedback for the first time. This should help the digital stylus feel more realistic in use.

In a surprise move, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports today in his Power On newsletter that the upcoming iPad Pro may actually be powered by the M4 chip, skipping the M3 altogether.

The company would tout the AI capabilities of the new iPad range, powered by the upgraded Neural Engine in the M4 chip. The M4 chip is scheduled to arrive in Macs later in the year.

The hit comedy series Ted Lasso is currently only available to watch via Apple’s streaming service, Apple TV+. Finally, more than four years after its season one premiere, it appears that the exclusivity window is finally going to end and the show will soon be getting a physical disc release.

9to5Mac understands that Warner Bros. is preparing to release Ted Lasso on Blu-ray, with an expected July release date …

Setting up a VPN on your Apple TV 4K allows you to avoid geographic region restrictions and access services not normally available to you. With tvOS 17, VPN apps can now be installed on the Apple TV directly.

VPN apps available now for Apple TV include NordVPN, PureVPN, IPVanish, ExpressVPN, and more. Here’s all the best VPN apps for Apple TV available now …

The Democratic Republic of Congo is accusing Apple of using illegally exploited minerals sourced in the eastern regions, involving violence, child labor and other human rights violations.

This allegation disagrees with Apple’s published Conflict Minerals Report, that states it found no connection between its smelters and refiner partners, and the armed groups of the DRC, as of December 31, 2023.

Apple launched its range of FineWoven iPhone cases and Apple Watch bands last fall to much fanfare, as an environmentally-friendly alternative to the leather accessories. However, buyers quickly complained the material was prone to attracting dirt, scuffs and other durability issues. FineWoven also simply felt far less premium than the leather lineup it replaced, albeit Apple charging the same prices.

According to Twitter leaker Kosutami, Apple is giving up on the effort and the production lines for FineWoven are being shuttered. The company will probably try again with a different leather alternative option, like Alcantara.

As indicated by much of the research material Apple has been publishing in recent months, the company is investing heavily in all sorts of artificial intelligence technologies. Apple will announce its AI strategy in June at WWDC, as part of iOS 18 and its other new OS versions.

In the latest Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman says to expect the new iPhone AI features to be powered entirely by an offline, on-device, large language model developed by Apple. You can expect Apple will tout the privacy and speed benefits of this approach.

The EU commission is set to approve Apple’s previously-announced policy changes regarding access to the NFC chip on the iPhone, with the view of increasing competition in the contactless payments market. The commission’s decision will be officially announced in the coming weeks, via Reuters.

With these changes, apps will be allowed to become the default wallet app that appears when users double-click the side button or hold their phone near a payment terminal. However, the relaxation of policy only applies to apps available inside the European Union, not worldwide.

Beginning today, more than sixty IHG Hotels & Resorts locations will support the new iOS 17 AirPlay feature, allowing guests to easily stream to the TV in their hotel with no additional hardware required.

Just like you would stream to an Apple TV at home, guests are able to seamlessly select their hotel TV as the AirPlay output to watch videos, view photos and stream music from their iPhone or iPad.

Apple has an ambitious goal to create a fully carbon neutral value chain for its products by 2030, and every year it charts its progress in its annual Environmental Progress Report. The 2024 report published today highlights a milestone achievement for emissions.

Apple says its overall greenhouse gas emissions have more than halved since 2015, down 55%. However, there is still more work to be done as the company will need to attain a 75% reduction to meet its 2030 targets.

Over the weekend, the first handheld console game emulator hit the App Store, following a relaxation in App Store Review Guidelines the week prior.

Fast forward 24 hours and the app is gone, pulled from the App Store. However, we aren’t sure why. It might be that ROM-loading emulators are actually not allowed, and this one slipped through. Or, it may be that iGBA was simply a clone of the open-source project GBA4iOS, and was pushed to the store without permission or appropriate licensing.

Update: The app has now been removed from the App Store. Original story below.

Apple changed the App Store rules last week to seemingly permit game emulators on the iPhone for the first time.

Following that policy change, the first emulator apps are now appearing on the store. iGBA is a free Game Boy game emulator for iPhone and iPad, which can indeed load and play ROMs downloaded to the device — a category of application that Apple would have unequivocally rejected a fortnight ago.

From director Matthew Vaughn, the new spy thriller movie Argylle is now streaming on Apple TV+, Apple’s streaming service for original TV shows and movies.

The film features a star-studded cast including Bryce Dallas Howard, Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, John Cena, Samuel L. Jackson, Bryan Cranston, Dua Lipa and more. It’s a twisty action spy narrative which sees author Elly Conway (played by Howard) wrapped up in espionage plot of her own design.

Apple is alerting users to a new instance of an identified mercenary spyware attack on the iPhone. Possible victims have been sent an email from Apple describing how the attack could “remotely compromise the iPhone”. Victims are being notified in India and 91 additional countries, via Reuters.

Mercenary attacks of this nature typically cost millions of dollars, and are often useless once discovered by security researchers and patched by iOS security updates. They are often believed to be state-sponsored, due to the high cost of development to craft such complex and sophisticated attacks. However, in a notable change of language, Apple no longer says this explicitly in its threat notifications.

In the latest edition of Bloomberg’s Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman reports that he is hearing Apple is gearing up to launch the new iPad Pro and iPad Air during the week of May 6.

The launch will include new 11-inch and 13-inch OLED iPad Pro models, a larger 12.9-inch iPad Air, as well as refreshed Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil accessories.

The AI boom has sprung up a mini-economy for content repositories, which AI companies want access to in order to train their models.

Companies like OpenAI initially trained their models by scraping data from the web. However, with the legal overhang of copyright looming, companies are looking to strike deals to formally license content going forward. Apple is one such participant. Reuters reports that Apple struck a deal to license millions of images owned by Shutterstock, a stock image site.

Update: More new iPad model identifiers are being registered; this time ‘A2898’ and ‘A2899’. That makes for a total of four, possibly reflecting two sizes of iPad Pro and iPad Air each.

As spotted by 91mobiles, two new iPad model identifiers have been registered on the Indian BIS certification database. It’s been a long time since new iPad model identifiers have been introduced as Apple last released a new iPad model almost eighteen months ago, the biggest gap ever between Apple tablet generations.

The database unfortunately does not really reveal any other details about the products, but they likely correspond to either the upcoming iPad Pro or iPad Air models. Bloomberg previously reported that Apple is readying new OLED iPad Pro and iPad Air models for an early May debut.