Benjamin Mayo

In today’s edition of the Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman reiterates his reporting that plans for a high-spec Apple Silicon Mac Pro have been canceled.

Moreover, Gurman says the Apple Silicon Mac Pro (featuring merely an M2 Ultra chip) will also look identical to the current Intel Mac Pro, so customers should not expect any major design change. The product will also not support expandable RAM, as the Apple Silicon architecture means all memory is tied to the M2 chip.

In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple intends to announce its long-awaited AR/VR headset product in the spring, before WWDC in June. The device would go on sale later in the fall of 2023, matching analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s timeline.

Gurman says prototype hardware has already been seeded to a small number of developers for testing. However, he says the device is far from finished and Apple still has to work out several “kinks” in the hardware and software.

After years of speculation, it seems like 2023 is finally the time for the official reveal of the first Apple AR/VR headset. But exactly when this year remains unclear.

The latest schedule according to reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reportedly sets the headset up for a late fall release window. Kuo says software development tools and ongoing drop testing issues mean the device is unlikely to be announced until the spring or summer (WWDC?), with a late fall release on the cards.

Apple today announced an expansion to the content offering of its video workout service Apple Fitness+. Beginning from Monday, Fitness+ adds kickboxing as a new workout type.

Kickboxing workouts will be led by Fitness+ trainers Jamie-Ray Hartshorne and new team member Nez Dally. Apple announced a new season of Time to Walk guests, and a new category of meditation sessions – sleep.

Apple Books has launched a new initiative to expand the number of audiobooks available on its store. It is inviting independent writers and larger publishers to opt-in to have their written books converted into audio form using AI voice synthesis models.

Apple announced the scheme towards the end of last year, and — as noted by The Guardian — the first AI-narrated books are now available to download in the Apple Books Store.

Apple has hired veteran Disney executive Ricky Strauss, to take up the role as the new head of marketing for its streaming service Apple TV+. The appointment follows the departure of prior marketing head Chris Van Amburg, in September.

The Information posted its latest roundup of technical details about the upcoming Apple VR/AR headset, a product that the publication has covered extensively across its many years of development. The device is finally expected to make its public debut this year.

One interesting tidbit in today’s story is that the H2 chip inside the latest-gen AirPods Pro secretly supports a low-latency transmission mode, which is designed to work in collaboration with the H2 chip inside the headset. Although the headband will have integrated speakers, The Information says Apple may require AirPods to be used when communicating with others.

If you have an iPhone 13 or earlier device with a degraded battery, this may be the best time to get a battery replacement. On its website, Apple has announced that out-of-warranty battery service for all iPhone models (except iPhone 14) will be rising by $20.

For instance, the iPhone battery service by Apple will increase from $69 to $89 starting in March. The iPhone 14 line is not included in this price adjustment, as it already costs $99 for these models from the outset.

For the holidays, Apple TV+ is running a special promotion for some of their biggest hit series. Until January 3, the first season of Bad Sisters, Ted Lasso, Prehistoric Planet, Trying and The Morning Show are streaming for free for everyone.

That means anyone who can access the Apple TV app can watch, no subscription required. Get the Apple TV app on Apple devices, Roku sticks, Amazon Fire Stick, PlayStation, Xbox, smart TVs and more platforms.

A report from The Information highlights employee retention issues inside Apple’s silicon group, with some employees sourced citing extremely long hours and stressful workloads. Apple is currently embroiled in litigation with at least two startups, Nuvia and Rivos, who have poached dozens of engineers from Apple, and who Apple claims stole proprietary information about its chip designs.

The most interesting anecdote is the claim that Apple was working on a next-generation GPU for the iPhone 14 Pro, but an engineering design mistake was found late in development which meant the plans had to be scrapped …

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Safari in macOS Ventura gains the ability to share groups of tabs with others. This is a great way to keep things organised when planning a trip, working on a group project and more. Here’s how to set up and use Shared Tab Groups.

Update: Elon Musk says the policy will be adjusted to only forbid accounts that are primarily advertising other platforms, and casual linking will once again be permitted.

On Sunday, during the World Cup, Twitter officially banned its users from linking to their profiles on other social media sites like Mastodon, Facebook, and Instagram. Mentions of other platform handles are also now banned.

The policy means Twitter users flocking to Mastodon are no longer allowed to tell their followers to go there instead, for instance. Penalties for breaking the rules include offending tweets being deleted to entire account suspensions.

Apple has apparently scrapped plans to make a new Apple Silicon Mac Pro with a high-end “M2 Extreme” chip featuring 48 CPU cores and 152 GPU cores. That’s according to Mark Gurman in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter. Gurman also says the new Mac Pro will be manufactured in Vietnam, a stark departure from the “Made in USA” 2019 Intel Mac Pro.

The “Extreme” chip would have essentially been a dual M2 Ultra. But complexity and cost concerns seem to have shelved those plans. Gurman still says Apple is preparing to launch a new Mac Pro with an M2 Ultra inside, with a design that enables expandability of some components, like RAM and storage.

Apple has reportedly pulled out of negotiations for the NFL Sunday Ticket package, after originally being considered the frontrunner, according to Dylan Byers at Puck News.

Earlier in the year, it seemed like Apple was nearing a deal with multiple reports of top Apple execs Eddy Cue sweet-talking NFL heads at meetings, having already struck sports streaming deals with Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer. But as talks dragged on with the NFL, Apple appeared to balk back at some of the contract’s limitations.

Apple TV+ has announced that its holiday musical comedy ‘Spirited’ has become the most popular Apple Original Films title on the streaming service ever, via Deadline. Apple does not release specific viewership numbers, other than to suggest that the Ryan Reynolds—Will Ferrell movie broke records for the service.

Apple’s original film efforts were validated this year when Apple TV+ became the first streaming service to win the coveted Best Picture Oscar, for ‘CODA‘. That being said, exactly how many people are watching Apple’s films is still murky.

Apple today announce the expansion of its Emergency SOS via satellite feature to more regions. The satellite connectivity feature is now available to iPhone 14 customers in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Ireland.

The feature is rolling out today. Emergency SOS via satellite allows iPhone 14 users to send short emergency text messages, in places where Wi-Fi and cellular service is unavailable.

Apple today released Emancipation, the new Will Smith movie about a slave escaping his captor in 1863. The film is inspired by the true story of the enslaved ‘Whipped Peter’, whose photos in the press helped inform the public just how poorly slaves were being treated, and guide public opinion towards the freedom movement.

Emancipation is streaming today on Apple TV+. Of course, the film is mired in controversy because of its lead actor’s actions at the Oscars earlier this year, in which Will Smith slapped Chris Rock on stage.