Benjamin Mayo

It has been common knowledge in the rumor mill that Apple is not ready to debut an iPhone in 2019 with 5G radios. Apple has never been early to adopting new cellular standards and 5G deployment in 2019 is very scarce anyway.

However, general consensus has indicated that Apple wants to release a 5G iPhone model in 2020. UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri released a report today that says there is an increasing likelihood that Apple will not be able to launch a 5G iPhone next year.

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According to Digitimes this morning, Apple is laying the groundwork in the supply chain to launch three new iPhones in 2020 featuring OLED displays. The current flagship lineup offers OLED screens on iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, but the iPhone XR uses a lower-resolution LCD panel to save money.

This pattern is set to continue for the 2019 generation, but Apple will shake things up next year. The three 2020 iPhones will reportedly come in new screen sizes: 5.42-inch, 6.06-inch and 6.67-inch diagonally.

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In China, Apple has lowered prices across its lineup in response to a lowering of VAT (sales tax) in the region from 16 to 13%, which went into effect today, reducing the entry price of iPhone and its other product lines. The changes were first reported by CNBC and 9to5Mac has seen documentation that confirms the new pricing.

The Chinese Apple Online Store went down for maintenance yesterday as the company rolled out the price changes across its product lines.

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Apple has announced today that it is unable to ship the AirPower charging mat and have cancelled the project, via TechCrunch.

In a statement from Dan Riccio, Apple apologized to customers that had been waiting for the product to come out. The AirPower mat was originally announced in September 2017 alongside the iPhone X. Apple was silent on the project for a year and a half, and today confirmed that AirPower is cancelled.

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Apple announced today that developers can now advertise their apps in App Store Search in an additional 46 countries.

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The Apple AirPods have led the truly-wireless earphone industry and maintained their crown ever since their release in late 2016. The changes introduced in AirPods 2, or AirPods (second-generation) as Apple describes them, don’t shake the boat but help AirPods maintain their lead.

I received my AirPods with Wireless Charging Case yesterday morning in the UK, so I’ve had about a day to get a feel for them. Most of the changes are obvious, but welcome, improvements to the truly-wireless formula. Wireless charging remains a bit of a question mark for me, thanks in large part to the continued absence of a certain charging mat. Here’s what’s new …

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Update: The ITC board has just rejected a different case of infringement. The decision below will be reviewed with a final decision by July. No iPhone ban just yet. Apple’s statement is below.

The Qualcomm-Apple patent battle continues. A US judge has ruled that some iPhone models have infringed on Qualcomm patents.

The ruling from the International Trade Commission judge means that the judge recommended an import ban on some iPhone models, however the decision may have to be reviewed by the full commission before a ban comes into effect. The ban is unlikely to affect the latest models like iPhone XS and iPhone XR.

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Update: It appears Apple has fixed the crashing problem with a server-side change.

The launch of Apple News+ is not going as smoothly as Apple had probably hoped. Many iPhone and iPad users are finding that the Apple News app is crashing repeatedly after updating to iOS 12.2.

According to sources, Apple is aware of the issue and is rapidly working on a fix. It’s not clear if the company will need to rush out a new iOS 12.2.1 software update or if the problem can be addressed server-side.

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One trend of the announcements yesterday was there was not too much love given to consumers outside of the United States. The Apple Card was announced as a US only product; a credit card that is integrated into the iPhone Wallet and offers 2-3% cashback on transactions made with Apple Pay.

Goldman Sachs CEO Richard Gnodde told CNBC that the company is exploring international opportunities for Apple Card but did not go into detail …

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Apple has lifted the curtain on its original content television show plans and showed the first snippets today of its own-produced TV shows. The company previewed what it has in a store in a fast-cut montage trailer. The Apple TV+ service will debut in the fall — pricing is yet to be announced.

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Apple has just unveiled its new premium News service featuring premium newspaper and magazines for $9.99 a month. The service is branded as News+ and is available today with the release of the new iOS and macOS software updates. $9.99 includes family sharing, so you can share with up to six Family members at no extra cost.

The service is integrated directly into the News app and features magazines from National Geographic, Popular Science, New Yorker, Vogue, Rolling Stone and more.

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For the first time, Apple will present its Services vision to the public at tomorrow’s March 25 event. The Wall Street Journal has posted a lengthy article today detailing the timeline of how Apple got to this moment, with Tim Cook intimately involved in steering the ship towards Services as early as 2014.

The report says that Apple will charge for its original content. Subscriptions to HBO, Showtime, Starz will apparently cost $9.99 each as part of Apple’s TV app, and premium Apple News will also carry a $9.99 price tag.

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Overnight, the Apple Music service has received a server-side upgrade which results in a redesigned ‘Browse’ tab in the Music app for iPhone and iPad. The new look seems to be rolling out slowly, as some readers are reporting they are still seeing the previous design.

Previously, the Browse tab was laid out with a single horizontally-scrolling carousel of featured content and then a list of navigation options, which would start deep navigation hierarchies before users of the app would actually see any real content. The new design surfaces much more music upfront, accessible with one tap.

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Update: The AirPower image has been removed from Apple’s servers, but the HTML and CSS references remain for now. Who knows when AirPower will show up for real?

The AirPods page was updated yesterday to highlight the new features in the updated model and mentions the wireless charging case. However, the previously featured picture of AirPods and an iPhone X laying on the AirPower mat was removed in the redesign.

It turns out — there is actually a new never-before-seen official AirPower image hidden in the source code that was intended to be on the AirPods page. It shows the new AirPods charging case and “David’s” iPhone XS laying on the so far unreleased AirPower mat …

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