Benjamin Mayo

In addition to details about the new iPad and Apple Watch, Bloomberg also shed some light on the next Apple TV, which apparently might not be ready to ship until next year. The Apple set-top box was last updated in 2017, with the launch of the Apple TV 4K.

Evidence of a new Apple TV hardware refresh has been circling around in iOS code for a while. Bloomberg says the new Apple TV will include a faster chip for improved gaming performance (the current Apple TV features an A10X chip). The site also says that it will include an ‘upgraded remote control’ and a Find My feature to make it easier to locate a remote when it goes missing in the house.

In a new report published today, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman runs down the list of products that Apple is expected to launch in the fall product season. In addition to the widely reported iPhone 12 lineup, the publication says that Apple will release an edge-to-edge iPad Air; an alleged instruction manual depicting the new design was leaked last week.

Apple is also said to be readying hardware updates to the Apple Watch. There will be a successor to the Apple Watch Series 5 and a successor for the Series 3, which will target the lower-end of the market.

Earlier this year, leaker @l0vetodream reported that Apple was developing a new iPad Air model featuring a full-screen design and a Touch ID power button. Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted a new 10.8-inch iPad is coming in the fall.

Today, @DuanRui shared images of what appears to be the instructions pamphlet for the as-yet-unreleased iPad Air 4, written in Spanish. It shows a drawing of a dramatically different iPad Air, that resembles the iPad Pro series with its thin bezel full-screen face. The pamphlet also mentions that the new iPad Air would use USB-C instead of Lightning, again like its iPad Pro siblings.

Eurasian Economic Commission filings have tipped the hats on many new Apple products ahead of official announcements, and today we have more to share.

First reported by Consomac, the regulatory database reports never-before-seen model identifiers for Apple ‘tablets’ and ‘wearables’, likely relating to Apple Watch Series 6 and the upcoming iPad refresh.

As we close in on Apple TV+’s first year, the service is gradually growing its library of premium-brand original shows and movies, with Apple ordering dozens of series this year to start production as coronavirus restrictions ease.

Bloomberg reports that Apple is also planning to take TV+ into another dimension, with the addition of augmented reality content.

The original iteration of Apple Maps relied mostly on data from partners. Over time, Apple has worked to bring more of the mapping experience directly under its own control, such as with the new ground truth map initiative that it rolled out in the US last year and is expanding to several more countries before the end of 2021.

As of the latest iOS 14 beta, it appears that Apple is looking to remove dependencies on Foursquare and Yelp as sources of reviews and user photos of restaurants, bars, shops, parks, and other points of interest.

Apple is set to launch an official first-party presence in India, with the launch of the Apple Online Store beginning next month according to a report today from Bloomberg. This lines up with a Q3 timeline reported by TechCrunch earlier this year.

Apple is finally able to start direct sales in the region as Indian government rules that companies must source 30% of components domestically were relaxed last year. The launch of the Indian Apple Online Store will be followed by the opening of physical stores, starting in Mumbai.

Following a hearing between Apple and Epic’s lawyers about ten hours ago, the judge has made her first ruling on the case. Epic had asked for restraining orders to prevent Apple from blocking Fortnite and the Unreal Engine (as Apple had said it will terminate all of Epic’s developer accounts on the 28th).

Epic ‘won’ on half of it. Apple has now been given a restraining order which prevents it from terminating developer accounts relating to Unreal Engine or other Epic properties. However, Epic did not get a temporary order to force Apple to put Fortnite back on the App Store.

Epic’s latest filing in the battle against the App Store targets Apple’s declaration that it will follow policy and terminate Epic’s developer accounts on August 28th. As noted by The Verge, Epic argues several reasons why Apple should not do this, noting the wide-reaching consequences it has on the games ecosystem that depend on the Unreal Engine frameworks.

Microsoft has submitted a companion filing that lays out the impact to its business of the Unreal Engine. The statement says that “Apple’s discontinuation of Epic’s ability to develop and support Unreal Engine for iOS or macOS will harm game creators and gamers”.

In the latest TF Securities report from Ming-Chi Kuo, the Apple analyst estimates the cost of adding 5G to this year’s iPhone. Kuo believes it will cost Apple about $75 per unit for sub-6GHz 5G support, and up to $125 for millimeter wave 5G.

Kuo does not expect Apple to pass on all of the cost increases to the consumer sale price of the iPhone 12. That means Apple is looking to offset 5G component costs by looking for cost savings elsewhere in the phone. Kuo names the battery printed circuit board as one area where Apple is downgrading its specifications.

Apple is currently in the middle of a heated dispute with Epic Games (maker of Fortnite) over App Store terms, as the company sees the number of antitrust investigations targeting App Store policy continue to grow. Now, the news publishers are joining in too.

A letter signed by a trade group that represents top newspapers including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and the Washington Post says that Apple’s rules prevent them from investing in quality journalism. Among other changes, the letter asks for Apple’s cut of in-app purchases to be reduced to 15%.

Apple has become the first public company to hit the magic milestone of having a $2 trillion market capitalization, just two years after it crossed the $1 trillion mark.

Market cap is the value of a share multiplied by number of shares, thereby seen as the overall value of a publicly traded firm. Apple has seen its stock almost double this year off of COVID pandemic lows in March. Investor confidence rebounded as Apple delivered strong revenue growth in many business divisions last quarter, with its services division offering promising monetization opportunities over the next few years.

Apple today announced a revamp of its live radio strategy for Apple Music. The Beats 1 streaming service is being renamed to ‘Apple Music 1’, and Apple is launching two new stations: Apple Music Hits and Apple Music Country.

Apple Music Hits will feature the top songs spanning ’80s, ’90s and 2000’s, whilst Apple Music Country showcases the evolving nature of the country music genre.

Apple has today launched its first bundle partnership for Apple TV+ subscribers. With an active Apple TV+ subscription, you can now subscribe to CBS All Access and Showtime for $9.99 per month via Apple TV Channels, a 50% saving over buying both channels separately.

This offer is only available to TV+ subscribers in the United States. The news was first reported last week by Bloomberg.

Update: Epic Games filed legal papers attacking App Store policy.

The highly-popular battle royale game Fortnite has now been removed from the App Store, after the company added a direct payments feature that evaded Apple’s In-App Purchase system. Read Apple’s statement after the break.

App Store rules requires digital purchases to use In-App Purchase, sharing 30% commission with Apple. The direct payments feature was pretty clearly in violation of those rules. Many believe Epic went ahead with it as an intentional stunt to draw attention to Apple’s App Store policy, amidst growing anticompetitive pressures.

Apple is readying to launch a range of services bundles in October, with the working brand name ‘Apple One’, according to a report from Bloomberg. The bundle would offer a selection of Apple’s services at a discount, with a variety of packages and prices. Bloomberg suggests that Apple is also launching a services rival to compete with Peloton, with Apple virtual fitness classes being part of the bundle deal.

The bundle would arrive alongside the new iPhone 12 lineup, as Apple continues to grow its services revenue. On its latest earnings call, Apple publicly confirmed that the new iPhone series would debut a few weeks later than the usual September timeframe.

An iOS 14 feature that has gone a bit under the radar is the Precise Location toggle for Location Services. This new toggle gives the user more control over which apps can access your current location, and to what granularity.

Before iOS 14, you could grant an app access to your location whilst using the app, or always. However, if location access was allowed, the app would always get an exact coordinate. A lot of apps don’t actually need such precise location information, and iOS 14 offers that flexibility, including asking the user upfront in the permissions dialog.

With the COVID pandemic impacting production on pretty much all Hollywood projects, the second season release dates of Apple’s flagship shows (The Morning Show, For All Mankind, See, Servant, etcetera) have been pushed into 2021. To help plug the gap, Apple TV+ has acquired two Israeli series which it will stream exclusively.

The Trump executive order banning US companies from having a business relationship with WeChat has many ramifications, and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is concerned that the hit to iPhone sales will be significant.

If the order is implemented in full, it would see WeChat being removed from the App Store worldwide. WeChat is a critically important app for the Chinese market and if it’s no longer available on iOS, iPhone sales could decline by as much as 30%.

Apple released the Apple TV 4K in late 2017, along with annual updates to tvOS. There are rumors that a spec bump refresh is imminent, but an exact release date remains unclear.

Apple TV primarily competes against the Amazon Fire Stick and Roku’s range of streaming sticks. What’s funny is that the Apple TV has indirectly become the best option for consumers, at least in the US, despite Apple not releasing a new generation of hardware. And it all comes down to business contractual disputes between HBO Max and Peacock, the two major streaming services that launched this year …