Follow Benjamin on Threads to keep up with his latest projects. Benjamin blogs about Apple news and rumors and posts insightful product and app reviews. Read his work on 9to5Mac and his personal blog.
Benjamin Mayo also creates apps for iOS as a professional indie developer and contractor; more details here. Email to discuss making your iOS project.
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A new video from the JerryRigEverything channel tested the durability of the new iPad Pro hardware, subjecting Apple’s newest tablets to scratches, burns, and bending …
As announced at the October event, Apple is now offering options to spec up the 2018 MacBook Pro graphics performance with options to include Radeon Pro Vega graphics cards.
You can get the Radeon Pro Vega 16 or Radeon Pro Vega 20 cards for $250 and $350 respectively, only available on the high-end 15-inch MacBook Pro configuration.
OtherWorld Computing has announced a new upgraded model of its Thunderbolt 3 dock. The new dock features 14 ports of connectivity, including max 85 watt charging over Thunderbolt 3, which means it can fully charge a MacBook Pro — and provide various I/O ports — using a single cable.
We haven’t quite yet worked out the pattern or the cause but we have received many reports of users waking up to find that their Apple ID has been locked, and plenty more are complaining on social media. Apple will lock accounts for many different reasons, usually when someone attempts to access an ID by entering their incorrect password too many times.
Access to the account can be restored by answering the security questions and entering a trusted phone number for validation. Users may also have to reset their passwords.
TF International’s Ming-Chi Kuo has cut his estimates for iPhone XR shipments significantly, from 100 million to 70 million, through September 2019. Â Kuo blames negative consumer confidence due to the ongoing trade war, competition from Huawei Mate 20 particularly in emerging markets, and customers coveting features like dual-camera.
Kuo has not lowered his total fourth quarter iPhone estimates of around 80 million units, as he believes the fall in XR shipments will be offset by higher sales of the XS series and legacy models like iPhone 8 and iPhone 7. However, he forecasts a decline looking into 2019.
The iPhone XR does not have a pressure-sensitive display, so it lacks 3D Touch. Apple has introduced alternative gestures for many 3D Touch features under the marketing guise of ‘Haptic Touch’. This combines a normal long-press gesture with haptic feedback, like holding down the spacebar to activate keyboard trackpad mode, or using long press for the lock screen torch button.
One notable omission with the launch of iPhone XR was the lack of affordance for viewing rich notifications. iOS 12.1.1 beta 2 addresses this … so now it works as you would expect.
These ‘bug fix’ versioned Apple software betas keep delivering with all sorts of little additions. New in watchOS 5.1.2 is a Control Center toggle for Walkie-Talkie …
The new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro features a USB-C port instead of a Lightning port. However, just because a device features a new port, it does not mean anything with a USB-C connector will suddenly work with the iPad Pro. There are still some limitations but USB-C makes it even easier to connect to external displays, cameras, and other accessories.
Here’s what you can do with your new iPad Pro and its shiny new port …
watchOS 5.1.1 was pushed out earlier today following a spate of bricked Watches last week for some devices updating to watchOS 5.1. However, it looks like this update has also tipped the hat on a few upcoming goodies for Series 4 owners.
With iOS 12.1.1 and watchOS 5.1.1 installed, you can see seven new complications appear in the watch face gallery app for the Infograph and Infograph Modular faces:Â Home, Mail, Maps, Messages, News, Phone, and Remote …
Apple just announced on its earnings call that it will stop reporting unit sales for iPhone, iPad and Mac from next quarter — the start of its next financial year. The company already withheld unit sales for Apple Watch, AirPods and similar products as part of its ‘Other Products’ business.
However, opting not to release numbers for its biggest revenue drivers, especially the iPhone, is a huge deal. It means investors can only guess at just how successful Apple’s flagship products are being received by the market.
Apple’s earnings have just dropped and the investor call is ongoing. Whilst Apple hit the top end of expectations for the current quarter, guidance for the holiday quarter was lower than most investors expected. In an interview with Reuters, Cook blamed three factors for the cautious outlook: differences in iPhone schedule compared to last year, negative impacts from foreign exchange rates, and macroeconomic weakness in ‘select emerging markets’.
The UK government is set to launch an app that will help EU citizens apply for residency in the UK post-Brexit. The process involves filling out a short form, taking a selfie, and scanning the chip inside their passport using their phone’s NFC reader.
The problem is Apple does not give developers full access to the NFC chip inside iPhones. NFC reading APIs only support the NDEF data format. The government’s plan is simply not possible with iOS as it stands today.
Apple said that the new iPad Pro with its A12X chip was faster than “92% of portable PCs” at its announcement event on Tuesday. Apple uses ‘PCs’ as a nice euphemism for both Windows and Mac computers without directly slighting its own Macs.
Geekbench benchmarks for the new iPad Pro have shown up online, and the scores are certainly impressive. The iPad reports ~5030 in single-core, and ~18000 in multi-core. The single core score goes to toe-to-toe with a 2.6 GHz i7 2018 MacBook Pro …
The ECG app for Apple Watch was announced at the September event and will be available by the end of 2018 as a free software update. The ECG app requires Apple Watch Series 4 which features electrodes in the digital crown and the back plate of the device. Due to legal reasons, the ECG app is limited by region.
In iOS 12.1.1, currently in beta, Apple has restored the FaceTime Live Photo capture feature that was removed in iOS 12.0. They have also dramatically improved the FaceTime UI, bringing mute and flip camera actions to the main view — no longer hidden in the submenu.
The Live Photos feature returns, but both devices must be updated to use it. The expanded card view in FaceTime has also been improved. More screenshots below …
As the iPad Pro features no headphone jack nor Lightning port, Apple is now selling a new dongle: USB-C to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter. Just like the Lightning to 3.5mm, it allows classic wired audio devices like headphones or speakers to connect to Apple’s latest peripherals.
The USB-C adapter costs $9 and is compatible with Apple’s USB-C Mac laptops and the new iPad Pro.
Apple has today announced the second generation of its iPad digital stylus, the new Apple Pencil. The new stylus snaps magnetically on to the side of the new iPad Pro, where it can continously charge.
There’s new integrated tap gestures which can perform functions inside apps, like an eraser in Notes. The new Apple Pencil costs $129. Note that the new Pencil is only compatible with the new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models.
Apple has just unveiled a new Mac mini at its October media event. In a space grey finish, every Mac mini now starts with quad-core CPU configurations. Apple will also offer six-core models for the first time. The new Mac mini can include up to 64 GB RAM, and all models feature solid state drives.
The Mac mini starts at $799, with various build-to-order upgrade options. Orders start today, with first deliveries from November 7.
Apple is hosting its final media event of the year on Tuesday, October 30, expected to feature new iPad Pro models, and a replacement for the MacBook Air laptop line. Several signs also point to iOS 12.1 launching on the same day, likely a few hours after the event concludes.
We have heard from several different carrier sources that they are readying for an iOS 12.1 launch on October 30, coinciding with the rollout of eSIM support for iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR …
The new Safari Technology Preview brings a much-needed feature to the Mac browser. macOS Mojave introduced a new Dark Mode system appearance, which automatically applies to the dock, menu bar, system controls, and third-party apps can update to take full advantage of the new dark theme interface. However, it is currently not possible for websites to know if the user is using the dark appearance.
This is changing soon. The new Safari beta includes support for the ‘prefers-color-scheme’ CSS media query. This will allow websites to adapt automatically to changes in system appearance. So when you are using Mojave in Dark Mode, (updated) websites can automatically use dark themes too.
The Eurasian database has turned up hit after hit recently. Once more, ahead of Apple’s October 30 event, the Eurasian Economic Competition database has listed filings for new Mac models running macOS 10.14. Four of these model identifiers relate to as-yet-unannounced machines. As spotted by Consomac, the A1932 laptop model was seen in an earlier filing.
The three new Mac models likely relate to new versions of the Mac Mini and iMac. We are expecting a significant spec update to the Mac Mini, which has not seen any attention in 1469 days, and at least processor bumps to the rest of the Mac line.
The iPhone XR embargoes have just lifted and everyone is giving their thoughts on the new mainstream iPhone. The front camera and rear wide angle camera in the XR and XS are identical, so have the same upsides and downsides when it comes to Apple’s computational photographing.
The Verge had an interesting tidbit: Apple is adjusting the Smart HDR algorithm in iOS 12 to retain more detail and address the aggressive skin smoothing complaints. This is in response to the BeautyGate shenanigans that cropped up when the XS launched last month.
Update: Apple has rounded up some of its favorite iPhone XR reviews here.
The iPhone XR launches this Friday from $749, in six beautiful colors: black, white, blue, red, coral and yellow. Now, the press reviews are dropping … and firmly position the XR as the mainstream iPhone for this generation.
The XR features the same A12 chip, the same wide angle camera as the XS, and approximates the iPhone X design with aluminium sides, an LCD display and slightly thicker bezels. It even surpasses all iPhones to date in the battery life department. The main drawbacks the reviewers highlighted was the loss of some 3D Touch shortcuts and several Portrait mode limitations. Here’s our roundup of the iPhone XR impressions …
Update: GasBuddy has now been updated that ‘resolves an issue that was causing some devices to crash’. Get the new version from the App Store.
Apple has discovered an esoteric bug that is causing many newer iPhone models, including iPhone XS, iPhone X, and iPhone 8, to repeatedly crash and respring (display a black loading spinner) when the GasBuddy app is installed.
The issue was first publicized by MacRumors. An anonymous Apple retail employee posted the fix on Reddit earlier. GasBuddy has said it is working on a fix. Apple retail has been advised to uninstall the app in the meantime.