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.
Follow @bzamayo on Twitter and follow @bzamayo on Threads.
Although Apple surprisingly did not raise the base prices of the iPhone 14 lineup last week, one thing that is getting more expensive is the cost of battery replacements. Apple says it will cost $99 for the company to replace the battery in your iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max. This is up from $69 for iPhone 13, a price increase of about 43%.
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Apple TV+ stars Adam Scott (Severance) and Cecily Strong (Schmigadoon) are promoting the new Verizon One Unlimited plan for iPhone as part of a marketing campaign between Apple and Verizon.
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A new docuseries on gutsy women, from Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea Clinton, is now streaming on Apple TV+. It is based on their book which highlighted bold, courageous, and influential women in society.
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In classic fashion, the Apple Store is down as Apple prepares the store for the rush of iPhone 14 sales.
The iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max will all be available to order starting at 5 AM PT. AirPods Pro 2 will also be available to order at that time.
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Apple TV+ today officially announced that it will stream a new documentary about popular singer and actress Selena Gomez, entitled My Mind and Me. A firm release date for the film was not announced.
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You won’t have to buy an Apple Watch Nike edition any more to get access to the Nike faces. New in watchOS 9, Apple will make those faces available to all Apple Watch owners for free. The exclusivity is no more.
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Verizon today announced the One Unlimited for iPhone plan. This offers Verizon customers cell coverage for their iPhone combined with Apple One: iCloud, Apple Music, Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade.
Verizon will be the only carrier offering this Apple One plan in the United States. Internationally, EE is the sole provider in the UK.
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AppleCare+ has been quietly upgraded today, following the announcement of the iPhone 14. Previously, AppleCare+ allowed for two incidents of accidental damage cover every year.
Starting today, that cap has been lifted. Apple now touts unlimited repairs for accidental damage protection, for as long as you keep paying.
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With an update coming this fall, Apple Fitness+ will no longer require an Apple Watch. Fitness+ will be available to all iPhone users for the first time.
With iOS 16, the Fitness app is now available to all iPhone users. And with an update to iOS 16 — possibly iOS 16.1 — the Fitness+ tab will also be unlocked for all.
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Apple today announced the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, as part of its September media event. The phones come in a new color lineup of midnight, starlight, blue, purple and red.
The big change here is that the iPhone 14 Plus features a new large 6.7-inch screen size, the same as the Pro Max, and the prior base model 5.4-inch mini size is no longer available. Other new iPhone 14 features include upgraded cameras, better battery life, and satellite connectivity …
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Apple continues the ceremony of taking down the online store ahead of its major hardware events. The Apple Store is down and is expected to come back up around 12 PT, directly after the conclusion of the live-streamed September Apple event, entitled ‘Far out’.
We are expecting to see the company announce the new lineup of iPhone (iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max) and Apple Watch (Series 8, a new ‘Apple Watch Pro’ line and maybe updates to the cheaper SE).
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The iPhone 14 is set to be announced at the “Far out” Apple event in a week’s time on September 7. We basically know the high-level details: upgraded cameras, a new A16 chip, and largely the same chassis as iPhone 13 with a new hole-punch notch design, at least on the Pro models.
However, one thing that remains somewhat unclear is exactly how Apple will present this new sensor housing. Recently, there’s been some chatter by sketchy Weibo postings and an anonymous MacRumors tipster that Apple will actually hide the hole punch at the software level by blacking out the area around the camera and sensors, to appear as a single uniform pill shape.
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Apple TV+ is now a perk for T-Mobile subscribers on their most popular plan, Magenta MAX. Magenta Max subscribers can access all Apple TV+ original content at no extra charge indefinitely, whereas Magenta customers can get a free six month trial.
Also today, the streaming service unveiled its fall lineup of kids & family content, including several returning shows, four new original series, and a bunch of classic Peanuts specials.
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Apple has begun the trademark application process for a variety of ‘reality’ names, as it prepares to introduce its first augmented reality headset device. Bloomberg reports that companies linked to Apple have applied for names including ‘Reality One’, ‘Reality Pro’ and ‘Reality Processor’.
Do not expect the headset to appear as part of the iPhone 14 event on September 7 however. The latest rumors generally point to a product launch of the headset early in 2023.
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Apple has partnered with many different companies from PlayStation to LG to Vizio to give away Apple TV+ trials, and now Samsung has stepped up to the plate too. Running today through November 28, Samsung smart TV owners can get 3 months free access to Apple TV+ …
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The song identification service Shazam was bought by Apple in 2018. But it actually started out back in August 2002, which means it turned 20 years old this week. To celebrate its milestone birthday, Apple Music has shared a 20 Years of Shazam Hits playlist, featuring the most Shazamed tracks from each calendar year from the past two decades.
The company also announced the service has crossed 70 billion total track recognitions to date, detected from clips submitted by its 225 million monthly active users …
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Apple TV+ today premiered the first three episodes of new dark comedy series Bad Sisters, starring, written and executive produced by Sharon Horgan, hailing from Horgan’s overall deal with Apple.
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Long-time Mac and iOS developer Pixelmator today announced that their mobile photo editor Pixelmator Photo is switching to a subscription pricing model. Up to now, Pixelmator Photo was available in the App Store for an upfront purchase of $7.99.
The app now costs $4.99 per month or $23.99 per year, with a seven day free trial. A $59.99 lifetime option will also be available. The subscription unlocks access across all your devices, including the upcoming newly-announced Mac version. Existing paid customers are grandfathered in for free.
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Apple today released the trailer for its next original movie for Apple TV+ entitled The Greatest Beer Run Ever. The film premieres on September 30 and stars Zac Efron as Chickie. Chickie embarks on a journey to the frontlines of Vietnam, to bring beer to the soldiers serving his country.
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The UK carrier EE today announced that its Full Works plan will now bundle …. the Apple One bundle.
Although many different carriers have included Apple services perks like Apple Music or Arcade before, this is the first time that the full Apple One package is included as an extra. You can expect similar international carrier announcements to follow.
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There are more signs that Apple is aggressively expanding its ad business. In today’s edition of Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter, Gurman says that Apple VP Advertising Platforms Todd Teresi aims to bring annual revenue into the ‘double digits’, up from about $4 billion-per-year today. That means (at least) a tripling of its current ad business is in sight.
Gurman says that Apple has already tested adding sponsored results to search results in the Maps app, similar to the App Store Search Ads program. Ads could also possibly start appearing in the Apple Books and Apple Podcasts storefronts in future.
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Tonight, Apple releases the first three episodes of its new drama, Five Days at Memorial. The eight-part limited series focuses on the impact of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation on a specific hospital, the Memorial Medical Center. The show stars Vera Farmiga, Cherry Jones, Robert Pine and more. Five Days at Memorial is streaming exclusively on Apple TV+.
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Apple is continuing to invest in original podcast production. Bloomberg today reported that Apple has signed a deal with award-winning production company Futuro Studios.
Under the arrangement, Apple funds Futuro’s development of new podcasts but retains rights to the intellectual property to convert any of the works into video content — television shows and movies — for its streaming service Apple TV+.
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The hit Apple TV+ comedy Ted Lasso is wrapping up production on its third (and supposedly final) season as we speak. In the run up to the new season premiere, the Ted Lasso merch machine has been on somewhat of a tear. Available today is this adorable Ted Lasso figurine set, made by Fisher-Price.
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