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.
Apple TV+ is continuing to expand its original slate of comedies with an announcement today of a 10-episode series order for “Platonic”, with Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne in starring roles.
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Many publications have reported in the last 48 hours that MGM was looking to sell the newest James Bond film, No Time To Die, to a streaming service as low box office numbers continue to threaten the success of a traditional cinema release. The film currently has a release date of 2nd April 2021, with the studio having already delayed the date twice this year following the pandemic-induced slump in cinema ticket sales.
According to Variety, MGM took bids from Apple TV+, Netflix and others. However, it was looking for a deal worth approximately $600 million, a price tag that even the deepest pocket streaming services were not interested in.
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The Apple TV app is officially coming to games consoles, starting with an announcement from Sony. On the PlayStation blog, the company revealed that the Apple TV app will be available on November 12, that’s the same day as the PlayStation 5 release date.
The app will be made available for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Just like the smart TV apps, users will be able to subscribe and enjoy Apple TV+ originals, and access their movie and TV show purchases from the iTunes Store.
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Jony Ive retired from Apple about a year ago, following an almost 25 year tenure as head of Apple product design. At the time, it was announced that Ive would form a new independent design firm called ‘LoveFrom’ which would regard Apple as a primary client.
Whilst we are still waiting for Ive’s supposed ongoing relationship with Apple to bear any fruit, today Airbnb revealed a multi-year partnership with Jony Ive and LoveFrom. Ive will help design the next generation of Airbnb products and services.
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The Apple Store is down ahead of the first set of iPhone 12 preorders. Due to the pandemic, the iPhonne 12 launch season is staggered this year. Today, customers can order the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 and the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro.
The store is down quite far ahead of time. Preorders open at 5 AM Pacific Time, or about six hours from now. The phones officially launch on October 23rd.
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A month after it was announced, you can now preorder the new iPad Air 4 …. at Walmart. The retailer has just opened up its order page for the new $599 iPad, with deliveries starting on Friday, 23rd October. Shop for the best iPad Air deals on 9to5Toys.
The new iPad Air brings the full-screen thin-bezel design of the 2018 Pro down to a much lower price point, featuring the latest A14 chip for speedy performance and Touch ID sensor integrated into the top button.
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Apple users have long tried to use their HomePods as their Apple TV speaker system. The standard AirPlay 2 experience mostly works … except when it doesn’t. The usual frustration is that the Apple TV will forget the AirPlay 2 connection and you have to keep reselecting the HomePod as the audio output. Apple has finally addressed this with iOS 14.2 and tvOS 14.2 beta 3.
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In an incredibly sneaky move, it turns out the iPhone 12 does not actually cost $799 as advertised. If you go to the website and look at the pricing for the iPhone 12, the SIM-free price is actually $829. The iPhone 12 mini is similarly $729, and not $699.
The top-line advertised prices actually include a $30 carrier discount, which is only available on AT&T and Verizon plans. That means if you are buying SIM-free unlocked or through T-Mobile or Sprint, the phone cost is $829. The same holds for the iPhone 12 mini …
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Last year, Apple introduced a special offer for new Apple device purchases: a one year trial of Apple TV+. As of today, that offer continues but Apple has now added another hardware free trial combo.
Starting October 22nd, new purchases of an iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV or iPod touch now come with 3 months free of Apple Arcade, Apple’s game subscription service which includes more than 100 games. Before today, Apple offered a single month free of Apple Arcade for new sign ups.
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Apple will not include a power charger or earbuds with the iPhone 12, citing environmental reasons. Apple said it will be able to significantly reduce carbon emissions by not having to make the accessories in the first place, in addition to reducing the shipping box size of each iPhone sold.
For the first time, neither the power charger brick nor the Apple EarPods will be included with your iPhone purchase. Apple says doing this will save 2 million metric tons of carbon annually.
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Update: It turns out the iPhone 12 is $30 more expensive than originally thought.
Apple today announced the new iPhone 12, featuring a 6.1-inch OLED display. The iPhone 12 is one of four models unveiled today as part of the new fall iPhone lineup. iPhone 12 will go on sale for $799, and the smaller iPhone 12 mini starts at $699. iPhone 12 will be available to order starting this Friday, October 16.
All new iPhones support 5G and feature a new industrial design with flat edges and thinner bezels. The phone looks a lot like an iPhone 5 but with a full-screen face. The iPhone 12 comes in five color finishes: black, white, red, green and blue.
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Apple today announced the HomePod mini, its latest smart speaker product following the launch of the original HomePod in 2017. The speaker features a new circular ‘bowl’ design, available in white or black, wrapped in mesh fabric. HomePod mini will be released on November 16 for $99. Orders start November 6.
Apple said the new HomePod mini combines amazing sound with the smarts of a voice assistant. The speaker emits sound in a 360-degree array. The HomePod mini is powered by the Apple S5 chip. Alongside the hardware, Apple announced several new feature updates for Siri …
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The Apple Store is down ceremony continues with Apple’s October event, which kicks off (virtually) at 10 AM Pacific Time today. We are expecting to see the iPhone 12 lineup — comprising four different models in new smaller and larger sizes than the iPhone 11 — as well as a new smaller ‘HomePod mini’
Stay tuned to 9to5Mac for full coverage of all the announcements.
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With the new iPhones set to be unveiled in three days from now, TF Securities Ming-Chi Kuo released a report this weekend detailing the analyst’s expectations for relative demand of the four models.
To recap, the iPhone 12 will be available in four SKUs: a 5.4-inch model (“iPhone 12 mini’), two 6.1-inch models (Pro and non-Pro) and a new 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Kuo says that the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 will be the most popular.
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We’ve already had an Apple September event and are currently looking forward to the iPhone 12 / HomePod mini event next week, but Bloomberg reports Apple won’t be stopping yet. In a story today on what to expect from next week’s event, Mark Gurman writes that the first Apple Silicon Macs will be announced at another Apple product launch event in November.
In line with Ming-Chi Kuo’s reporting from a while ago that the first ARM Mac would be a 13-inch MacBook Pro, Bloomberg says that the first Mac laptop with Apple Silicon “among other products” will be launched next month.
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If you purchased a new Apple device from September 2019 last year — like an iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple TV — you were automatically eligible for a free year of Apple TV+. These trials would begin expiring at the end of October.
If you are in that group, it turns out you are going to get a few more months to enjoy the service at no charge. Apple will be extending all Apple TV+ trials through February 2021. The company will also be giving store credit for people on TV+ monthly plans during this period.
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The anachronistic drama/comedy ‘Dickinson’ was one of Apple TV+’s launch shows, with all ten episodes airing on Apple TV+ launch day, November 1st 2019. Now, the streaming service is again leading with Dickinson as it today announced that the show’s second season will premier on January 8th.
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Prolific artist AR7 has once again released wallpapers inspired by the Apple event artwork. The iPhone 12 event was officially announced earlier today and will be held on October 13 with a livestream from Apple Park.
You can get hyped for the event by dressing up your soon-to-be-obsolete iPhone with AR7’s stunning wallpapers based on the event invite art. Download the appropriately sized image for your device from Google Drive here.
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Apple today officially launched its in-house mapping data in the United Kingdom and Ireland, after completing the rollout across the United States in 2019. The new map is rolling out now and should be available to all customers later this evening.
The new maps offer more detailed cartography and building shapes, more accurate navigation and Google Street View-esque ‘Look Around’ views in select cities.
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With iOS 14, Apple has added a new automatic switching feature to the AirPods and AirPods Pro earbuds. This feature is meant as a convenience; when you start playing content on another Apple device, the AirPods connection automatically switches in unison. However, some people don’t like this behavior and would rather connect to each device manually, just like how it worked in iOS 13 and earlier. Good news! There is a way to get the old behaviour back …
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The UK government has today launched its NHS COVID-19 app in the App Store, which supports the privacy-preserving Apple/Google Exposure Notifications API and aids the national contact tracing effort.
iPhone users can go to the App Store now and download the app for free; your device must be running iOS 13.5 or later. A counterpart app will also be available on the Google Play Store for Android devices.
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The anonymous Twitter leaker l0vetodream today tweeted the names of the upcoming iPhone 12 phones. He says that the new iPhone lineup will be called iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max. The iPhone 12 is expected to be officially announced by Apple in October.
These brand names have been circling around the rumor mill for a while, but l0vetodream has built up a good track record of accuracy this year, making this leak particularly notable.
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Apple TV+ was thrilled to become the first streaming service to get awards recognition within its first year of operations, and now it can add an Emmy to the list. Out of The Morning Show’s eight Emmy nominations, it picked up a win for Billy Crudup as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
Apple ran aggressive Hollywood campaigns to try and garner industry accreditation. So far, The Morning Show has made its mark with Golden Globe nominations, Critics Choice win, a SAG award win for star Jennifer Aniston, and more. In July, Apple TV+ also won Daytime Emmys for its kids programming.
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For years, iPhone and iPad users have been asking for ways to hide pictures from the main camera roll in the Photos app. Apple has finally gone some way to addressing this feature with iOS 14 thanks to a new Hidden Album toggle. Here’s how to hide photos from the camera roll on the iPhone in iOS 14 …
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