Benjamin Mayo

Apple today announced its commemorative Pride Collection for 2024, featuring new wallpapers for iPhone and iPad, and a new watch face and matching band for the Apple Watch.

The new Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop band will be available to order starting May 22. The new watch face and dynamic iOS wallpapers will also be available ‘soon’, as part of iOS 17.5.

The Apple.com homepage has been updated with a last-minute teaser to celebrate the upcoming Apple event, which kicks off tomorrow at 7 AM PT. Apple is expected to announce a new lineup of iPad Pro and iPad Air.

The new teaser at the top of the page cycles between the various illustrations of Apple logo, with a twist that you can erase the art with your mouse pointer on Mac, or finger on your iPhone’s touchscreen. When the logo is fully erased, a new variant animates in.

On Tuesday, May 7, Apple will hold its first product event of the year, ‘Let Loose’. The company is set to introduce new lineup of iPad Pro and iPad Air. The iPad Pro tablets will get OLED displays, a new thinner chassis, and run on the M4 chip. The iPad Air will be updated with the M2 chip, and be offered in a new larger 12.9-inch display size for the first time.

As reported today by Mark Gurman, Apple is set to announce all of this in a brisk video presentation running about 35 minutes in length. This is similar to the runtime of the October ‘Spooky Fast’ event.

As the frantic investor hype around streaming dies down, every studio is re-evaluating the way they do business, what shows they are commissioning, and their relationships with creators.

The financially-rich Apple has less pressure to do this than most, but we have seen changes at Apple Studios too, albeit perhaps to a lesser extent compared to other streaming outlets. The Ankler reports today in its Dealmakers column that Apple is talking to producers and agents about a potential new deal structure for their originals going forward.

In time for Mental Health Awareness Month, Apple Podcasts is shining light on a new category of podcasts to listen to.

The new Wellbeing category collects shows featuring health, fitness and wellness topics. As noted by AdWeek, listenership for shows in this genre has increased 40% in the last five years.

As about a third of the 2024 Major League Soccer season has now concluded, Apple is dropping the price of the MLS Season Pass package in kind.

The season subscription is now sold for $69, down 30% compared to its $99 price at the start of the season. For Apple TV+ subscribers, the pass is now just $59.

The last few months have seen Apple rapidly implement technical and policy solutions to comply with the Digital Markets Act. That has seen the rollout of things like alternative app marketplaces, web distribution, alternative browsers, and more as part of iOS 17.4 and iOS 17.5 updates.

So far, those rules have only applied to the iPhone and iOS. But now, the European Commission has expanded the Digital Markets Act’s purview of products to include the iPad (via Bloomberg).

This morning, Apple announced expanded availability of the HomePod and HomePod mini, with orders starting for the first time in Malaysia and Thailand. The devices will start shipping next week, from May 10. That opens up the reach of HomePod mini and the ‘new’ HomePod (2nd generation) to a brand new market of customers.

Update: Apple will also launch HomePod 2 and HomePod mini in Turkey on May 10. Pre-orders are now available.

In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman gives us a few more hints about what to expect from iOS 18 in terms of upcoming new software changes for the iPhone.

Gurman writes that alongside the slate of artificial intelligence features, iOS 18 will include updates to most of the popular built-in apps on the iPhone, including overhauls for the Photos, Mail, Notes and Fitness apps. The Calculator app will be updated with new features, and made available on the iPad for the first time.

Alongside the new iPad Pro and iPad Air lineup, Apple’s May 7 event will also feature updates to the iPad accessories, with new generation of Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports today that the new Pencil will include haptic feedback for the first time. This should help the digital stylus feel more realistic in use.

In a surprise move, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports today in his Power On newsletter that the upcoming iPad Pro may actually be powered by the M4 chip, skipping the M3 altogether.

The company would tout the AI capabilities of the new iPad range, powered by the upgraded Neural Engine in the M4 chip. The M4 chip is scheduled to arrive in Macs later in the year.

Setting up a VPN on your Apple TV 4K allows you to avoid geographic region restrictions and access services not normally available to you. With tvOS 17, VPN apps can now be installed on the Apple TV directly.

VPN apps available now for Apple TV include NordVPN, PureVPN, IPVanish, ExpressVPN, and more. Here’s all the best VPN apps for Apple TV available now …

The Democratic Republic of Congo is accusing Apple of using illegally exploited minerals sourced in the eastern regions, involving violence, child labor and other human rights violations.

This allegation disagrees with Apple’s published Conflict Minerals Report, that states it found no connection between its smelters and refiner partners, and the armed groups of the DRC, as of December 31, 2023.

Apple launched its range of FineWoven iPhone cases and Apple Watch bands last fall to much fanfare, as an environmentally-friendly alternative to the leather accessories. However, buyers quickly complained the material was prone to attracting dirt, scuffs and other durability issues. FineWoven also simply felt far less premium than the leather lineup it replaced, albeit Apple charging the same prices.

According to Twitter leaker Kosutami, Apple is giving up on the effort and the production lines for FineWoven are being shuttered. The company will probably try again with a different leather alternative option, like Alcantara.

As indicated by much of the research material Apple has been publishing in recent months, the company is investing heavily in all sorts of artificial intelligence technologies. Apple will announce its AI strategy in June at WWDC, as part of iOS 18 and its other new OS versions.

In the latest Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman says to expect the new iPhone AI features to be powered entirely by an offline, on-device, large language model developed by Apple. You can expect Apple will tout the privacy and speed benefits of this approach.

The EU commission is set to approve Apple’s previously-announced policy changes regarding access to the NFC chip on the iPhone, with the view of increasing competition in the contactless payments market. The commission’s decision will be officially announced in the coming weeks, via Reuters.

With these changes, apps will be allowed to become the default wallet app that appears when users double-click the side button or hold their phone near a payment terminal. However, the relaxation of policy only applies to apps available inside the European Union, not worldwide.

Beginning today, more than sixty IHG Hotels & Resorts locations will support the new iOS 17 AirPlay feature, allowing guests to easily stream to the TV in their hotel with no additional hardware required.

Just like you would stream to an Apple TV at home, guests are able to seamlessly select their hotel TV as the AirPlay output to watch videos, view photos and stream music from their iPhone or iPad.

Apple has an ambitious goal to create a fully carbon neutral value chain for its products by 2030, and every year it charts its progress in its annual Environmental Progress Report. The 2024 report published today highlights a milestone achievement for emissions.

Apple says its overall greenhouse gas emissions have more than halved since 2015, down 55%. However, there is still more work to be done as the company will need to attain a 75% reduction to meet its 2030 targets.

Over the weekend, the first handheld console game emulator hit the App Store, following a relaxation in App Store Review Guidelines the week prior.

Fast forward 24 hours and the app is gone, pulled from the App Store. However, we aren’t sure why. It might be that ROM-loading emulators are actually not allowed, and this one slipped through. Or, it may be that iGBA was simply a clone of the open-source project GBA4iOS, and was pushed to the store without permission or appropriate licensing.

Update: The app has now been removed from the App Store. Original story below.

Apple changed the App Store rules last week to seemingly permit game emulators on the iPhone for the first time.

Following that policy change, the first emulator apps are now appearing on the store. iGBA is a free Game Boy game emulator for iPhone and iPad, which can indeed load and play ROMs downloaded to the device — a category of application that Apple would have unequivocally rejected a fortnight ago.