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.
Way back in January, Apple announced policy changes that would allow Apple Pay rivals to get the same access to the NFC contactless chip inside the iPhone. This includes allowing banking and alternative wallets apps to present themselves when the phone is held near a NFC terminal, or when the user double-clicks the side button.
Following some amendments, the EU has finally announced today that it is satisfied with these concessions, and is closing a four-year investigation into Apple’s alleged anti-competitive practices regarding Apple Pay.
The MLS Season Pass subscription has lowered its price to $49, for access to watch the remainder of the 2024 season. The 50% cut compared to its original $99 price, as of February, reflects the fact that we are now about halfway through this year’s season.
For Apple TV+ subscribers, the additional discount sees MLS Season Pass now available for $39. The monthly subscription price remains unchanged, and the season pass will automatically renew at the standard $99 price in 2025, unless cancelled.
The special EU App Store rules were rolled out earlier this year in response to the Digital Markets Act, which forced Apple to open up the iPhone software ecosystem to include alternatives to the App Store.
So far, not many have taken up the opportunity, in part because of the hefty associated fees and compliance requirements enforced by Apple. Epic Games may be about to make a big splash, however. The company says it is has submitted both the game Fortnite, and the Epic Games Store, to Apple for notarization, as they near a launch.
Apple TV+ today premieres its latest original film, Fancy Dance, which has garnered much critical praise in early reviews. The film stars Lily Gladstone, hot off her Academy Award nominated performance in Killers of the Flower Moon, a prior Apple release.
In Fancy Dance, Gladstone plays Jax, who is caring for her niece Roki since her sister’s mysterious disappearance. The pair set off on a road trip to try and find her sister, Roki’s mother. Meanwhile, Roki’s grandfather invokes a custody battle over Jax. Here’s how to watch …
Via schematics published by 91mobiles, we may have our first look at the upcoming Apple Watch Series 10. It is perhaps not the drastic ‘Apple Watch X’ redesign that has been rumored over the last year, but a straightforward revision from Apple Watch Series 9.
The big change is the inclusion of a larger 2-inch display, which is even bigger than the Ultra’s 1.93-inch display. However, to house the bigger screen, the body of the Watch has also grown, compared to the Series 9 …
Apple has been commissioning original podcasts for a while, but this new one is a bit different. Previously, Apple’s podcasts have all been released via open public RSS feeds, free to all.
However, Apple’s new podcast series, ‘My Divo’, will be released first behind a paywall, accessible via the Apple Podcasts app when the user connects their Apple TV+ subscription. For non-subscribers, the episodes will be released on a weekly basis.
Update: Apple has provided this statement in response to the preliminary findings, saying that it is confident that its rules complies with the law:
“Throughout the past several months, Apple has made a number of changes to comply with the DMA in response to feedback from developers and the European Commission. We are confident our plan complies with the law, and estimate more than 99% of developers would pay the same or less in fees to Apple under the new business terms we created. All developers doing business in the EU on the App Store have the opportunity to utilize the capabilities that we have introduced, including the ability to direct app users to the web to complete purchases at a very competitive rate. As we have done routinely, we will continue to listen and engage with the European Commission.”
From earlier today: The European Commission has formally announced today its preliminary view that Apple is in breach of the Digital Markets Act, surrounding App Store anti-steering rules.
Additionally, the commission is also officially investigating Apple’s ‘alternative business terms’ that allow app developers to release apps outside of the App Store. This includes whether the Core Technology Fee per-install payment structure, and how many steps it takes to allow and install an app marketplace, are in compliance with the DMA rules.
Apple and Meta (nee Facebook) have never been the best of friends, and that relationship has only soured in recent years as the tech giants clash on issues of privacy, app store policy, and much more. Respective CEOs Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg have similarly never talked too kindly about each other, in interviews over the years.
But the AI boom has meant some unlikely partnerships have bloomed. And it seems that Apple and Meta may be able to come to terms on this one specific thing …
Apple announced Friday that three major features for its upcoming operating systems will not be available in the European Union, when iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia ship later this year in the fall.
Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring to macOS Sequoia, and SharePlay Screen Sharing, are impacted and won’t be available, via Bloomberg. In fact, due to regulatory concerns relating to compliance with the Digital Markets Act, Apple signaled that these features won’t be available to European Union customers at all this year.
Apple today announced a new ‘Catch Up’ feature as part of MLS Season Pass. When joining a live stream for a game in progress, viewers can catch up on the action by watching a series of clips of highlights that have already happened during the game.
The Key Plays carousel is offered when you select a game in progress from the TV app main menu. You can also access it any time later, from the video player controls menu.
Earlier this year, it was reported by The New York Times that Apple was nearing a deal to exclusively stream the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup tournament.
However, months have gone by with no official news, perhaps hinting that the companies weren’t close to signing on the dotted line as it first seemed. And today, Bloomberg reports that talks between Apple and FIFA have in fact stalled, with the league exploring different distribution options.
The Apple Store has today launched its Back to School promotion in the United States for 2024. Eligible students and staff can get a free gift card with the purchase of a new Mac or iPad. The gift card is in addition to the usual education discount in items sold through the Apple Store for Education.
You can get a $150 gift card when buying a new iMac, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro. A $100 gift card is on offer for purchases of Mac mini, and the new iPad models: iPad Pro (M4) and iPad Air (M2). As usual, for the best value for money, you should probably shop elsewhere — Amazon has the new MacBook Air for $200 off for instance.
Qualcomm has been touting the performance characteristics of its new Snapdragon X Elite series of ARM chips for a while, which finally debuted this week inside the new Copilot+ PC’s (albeit without the fancy AI Recall feature, which has been delayed following security concerns).
While reviewers have more testing to do, the initial benchmarks and results paint a mixed bag. While the 12-core CPU Qualcomm chips are posting higher multi-core scores than the 8-core CPU M3 chip found in Apple’s MacBook Air, the M3 is still unbeaten on single core. That means for many tasks, the MacBook Air will still be faster. The M3 chip is also more power efficient than the X Elite …
Apple is reportedly working on a cheaper, cut-down version of the Apple Vision Pro, scheduled to arrive by the end of 2025, according to The Information. At the same time, the publication says development work on a second-generation high-end model of the Vision Pro has been shelved, seemingly to prioritize the cheaper hardware path.
Although it’s unclear at what price point the cheaper Apple Vision headset would hit, anything less than the $3,500 starting price of Vision Pro will help the company compete with the likes of the Meta Quest. The Information suggests Apple is aiming for a price around $1500, similar to the cost of a high-end iPhone.
The highly-anticipated Apple Original Films project has finally gotten a release date. The as-yet-untitled F1 movie, starring Brad Pitt and Damson Idris, will premiere in cinemas on June 25, 2025, with a North America release on June 27.
The film will later stream exclusively on Apple TV+, Apple’s streaming service. The theatrical distribution, which will include IMAX screens, is being handled by Warner Bros in partnership with Apple.
In his latest note, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote that he believes the upcoming Apple Watch Series 10 will feature a thinner chassis and a larger display, compared to Apple Watch Series 9. What is perhaps most surprising is just how much bigger Kuo believes the screens are getting.
Kuo says the Watch will increase from the current 41mm and 45mm sizes to about 45mm and 49mm respectively. Remember, unlike other Apple devices, these sizes measure case height of the watch, not diagonal screen size. Naturally, a taller case also means a bigger display. For comparison, the current Apple Watch Ultra is also measured at 49mm case height.
The new limited series Presumed Innocent starts streaming today on Apple TV+. Based on the book by Scott Turow, Jake Gyllenhaal stars in his first major TV role as Rusty Sabich, a prosecutor in the Chicago Attorney’s office.
The office is turned upside down when blame for a murder is pointed at Rusty himself. His innocence or guilt is examined, across the twisty eight-part thriller.
Apple investors are reacting strongly to the company’s WWDC announcements, with positive sentiment towards iOS 18 and the Apple Intelligence unveiling in particular. AAPL company stock hit new all time highs today in intraday trading, topping $205, up 6% on the day.
Following months of narrative of Apple being behind in AI, the buzzy topic for tech investing right now, Apple demonstrated its strengths with a series of relevant customer features that integrates artificial intelligence throughout the iPhone experiences.
While we still waiting for new smart home hardware products from Apple, iOS 18 does bring some new advancements to the Apple smart home software experience, with upgrades to HomeKit and the Home app.
The hero new feature this year is the addition of guest user access, allowing you to let visitors control your smart accessories temporarily, without adding them as a full permanent member of your Home. Also, there is new support for smart robot vacuum cleaners and door locks with Ultra-Wide Band connectivity …
iOS 18 includes a swathe of new Apple Intelligence features, as well as integration with ChatGPT for things like image generation and writing assistance. Users can optionally pass off their Siri requests to ChatGPT, for example.
Elon Musk has just heard the news about iOS 18, and is weighing on with his elevated thoughts. He describes the OpenAI integration as an “unacceptable security violation” and threatens to ban the use of Apple devices at his companies, including Tesla, SpaceX and X.
Apple confirmed today that it will support RCS messaging with iOS 18, releasing this fall. RCS will enable a richer experience when communicating with Android users.
RCS will give your green bubble chats many of the best of features of iMessage, like high-resolution image and video attachments, typing indicators, read receipts and more.
Apple Intelligence is the core of generative AI features in iOS 18, but Apple will also let users sign in with their OpenAI account and use ChatGPT models as well.
Once connected, users can select ChatGPT as their model to use inside Siri and as part of the new intelligent writing tools and other features across iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia.
Apple today unveiled a new version of Siri, that it promises is more natural and helpful. The new Siri is powered by Apple Intelligence generative AI models.
Siri has a new UI, which features a glow around the device bezel. Responses appear in new richly detailed cards. Apple said the new Siri will roll out gradually, “over the next year”.
