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.
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Before Apple TV+ was official, there were a lot of rumors and reporting that Apple was strictly focusing on ‘family-friendly’ content and telling producers to avoid adult scenes depicting sex and violence.
As reported by Sigmund Judge of Screentimes.net, who attended a screening of the first episode, Apple TV+’s premier show ‘SEE’ does not shy away from depicting adult themes in any way, and the events of the episode make a big statement that the rumors were simply incorrect.
Smart home accessory maker Netatmo today announced that its Weather Station now supports Apple HomeKit. With a firmware update, owners of the Weather Station since the 2016 model revision will be able to start interacting with their sensors in the Apple Home app and with Siri voice commands through the HomeKit integration.
The Weather Station exposes the following data to HomeKit: indoor and outdoor humidity, temperature, indoor CO2 level, and indoor air quality. If you have additional beacon modules for other rooms, that info will also be part of the HomeKit home.
Apple is set to introduce major new augmented reality initiatives next year with new 3D rear sensors for the iPhone and the likely debut of Apple’s long-rumored AR headset product.
Bloomberg says Apple has “targeted” to launch the headset in 2020, featuring holographic displays in the lenses. The exact form factor and use cases for the headset is still unclear. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo previously said that Apple would release an AR headset in mid-2020 with a “third-party brand collaboration.”
WIRED released a lengthy report today covering Apple’s ambitions for its Apple TV+ streaming service, which launches on November 1st. The profile includes imagery of sets from one of Apple’s premier shows, ‘For All Mankind’, and an interview with Apple TV+ exec Zack van Amburg, who leads Apple’s video programming division alongside Jamie Erlicht. Amburg and Erlicht were hired away from Sony in June 2017.
In the interview, Amburg says that Apple is “defining our programming by quality”, rather than looking for content to fill demographics like ‘males aged 18 to 34’. Like its array of products, Apple is being selective and targeting quality over quantity.
The TV app is a critical part of the Apple TV experience. In fact, it even has its own physical button on the Siri Remote (by default). Apple uses the TV app as the vehicle to unify content from installed third-party video apps, Apple TV Channels, iTunes purchases, and (soon) Apple TV+ TV shows and movies.
However, we have received a handful of reports of people who are currently unable to use the TV app. The TV app simply crashes as the user browses around, usually on the first swipe down in the Watch Now tab. This issue seems to be linked to the latest tvOS 13 update, which introduced a partial TV app redesign.
We found images of a redesigned pair of AirPods in the iOS 13.2 beta earlier this month, featuring what appears to be an in-ear design for better noise cancellation. The rumors of AirPods with noise cancellation and water resistance have been circling for some time and it appears we are close to a launch.
The latest report from Apple analyst Dan Ives at Wedbush corroborates the recent undercurrent of optimism we have heard in recent weeks regarding iPhone sales strength.
According to the analyst, overall iPhone 11 demand is “much better” than expectations with China being particularly strong, and iPhone 11 Pro demand exceeding estimates in the United States. Wedbush also tipped its hat on what it sees coming over the horizon for the iPhone in 2020.
Apple’s contactless payment service, Apple Pay, is apparently under scrutiny by the European Commission again. A report from MLex says that the EU is fielding comments from other companies in the payment space on Apple’s market behavior.
Specifically, the investigation covers topics like the prominence of Apple Pay when users set up an iPhone, like the “Set Up Now” notifications that pop up in the Settings app. Another possible issue is the fact that Apple does not let other NFC payment services integrate with the Wallet app, meaning Apple Pay has several exclusive integrations into iOS.
Update: The Apple TV app for Roku is now available. Download it here from the Roku Channel Store.
The Apple TV app is launching on Roku devices today, just in time for Apple’s TV+ streaming debut on November 1st. The TV app can be downloaded thorugh the Roku channel store, allowing Roku users to access their 4K HD iTunes purchases, Apple TV Channels, and Apple TV+ originals.
The company says the app will be compatible with most Roku devices, including the Roku streaming stick and Roku Ultra set-top box. However, “select older Roku models” are not supported.
Late on Sunday, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed some additional details about the iPhone SE 2, which Kuo previously said will launch early in 2020.
As said previously, the specification of the device is very similar to the iPhone 8, just as the original iPhone SE was an adapted version of the iPhone 5s body. Kuo says the iPhone SE 2 will come in 64 GB and 128 GB storage configurations with three color options: silver, space gray, and red. He also predicts that the starting price for the new cheaper iPhone will be $399.
Apple is continuing its PR blitz for Apple TV+ with Jason Momoa and Alfre Woodard hitting the covers of the latest issue of Emmy Magazine, promoting the sci-fi thriller See. Apple’s production budget for See is believed to be in excess of $15 million per episode.
In the interview, Apple vice presidents Jamie Erlicht and Zack van Amburg (who run Apple’s TV+ efforts after being hired from Sony in 2017) compare the scope of See’s world-building directly to Game of Thrones: “can it be as epic as, say, a Game of Thrones? We answer that question early on with a resounding yes!”. See debuts as a launch show on Apple TV+, which means it premieres November 1st.
It is pretty common knowledge at this point that Apple is going to release 5G iPhones next year, perhaps across all three of Apple’s flagship new models. However, the 2020 iPhones will be using Qualcomm modems.
Apple’s in-house silicon team has had the challenge of cellular modems on its radar for a while. A report from Fast Company today corroborates Apple’s ambition to release its own 5G modem chips in less than three years’ time. The report says the timeline is aggressive, even with Apple’s $1bn acquisition of Intel’s modem business under its belt.
Apple has signed an overall television deal with Alfonso Cuarón, renowned film director, screenwriter, and producer, according to a Variety report. An overall deal means Apple can automatically acquire the rights to anything Cuarón develops over the length of the contract.
The Pixelmator team is today releasing its macOS Catalina update for its premiere image editing suite, Pixelmator Pro. Beyond simple compatibility fixes, version 1.5 includes full support for the Sidecar extended-desktop feature, SF Symbols import, and more.
Pixelmator Pro is also now ready to take advantage of the power of the new Mac Pro and enables new RAW workflows designed with the Pro Display XDR in mind. There’s also a new machine-learning powered denoise adjustment and performance improvements across the board.
According to a Chinese language Ming-Chi Kuo report, Apple is readying the release of the iPhone SE 2 and new iPad Pro models for the first quarter of next year. This would apparently be followed up with the Apple AR headset launch in the second quarter.
Kuo says that Apple will collaborate with ‘third-party brands’ to release its first round of iPhone accessory augmented-reality headsets.
Apple has quietly informed customers that the shared iCloud Drive folders feature, which would make iCloud Drive a head-to-head Dropbox replacement, is no longer scheduled to be released this year.
Before today, the macOS All Features page had an asterisk for iCloud folder sharing that said the addition would be coming later this fall. Overnight, the text has changed to “coming this spring.”
As spotted by a MacRumors reader, the App Store screenshots for the Alarms app for Apple Watch includes text that alludes to an as-yet-unannounced Sleep app. References to Apple Watch sleep tracking features were found during the iOS 13 beta cycle, but Apple did not ship the functionality this year.
This screenshot is yet another confirmation that Apple is indeed developing a first-party Sleep app.
Spotify has today released its iOS 13 update, which allows users to ask Siri to play albums and playlists using their voice. This brings Spotify up to par with other music apps; SiriKit integration for audio apps was exclusive to Apple Music until iOS 13.
To use Spotify with Siri, install the update and then ask to play an album or song ‘with Spotify’. The update also allows hands-free control through CarPlay. Spotify is also launching a tvOS app for Apple TV today.
TF Securities’ analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is today forecasting that Apple will sell about 10% more iPhones in the first quarter of 2020, due to strong replacement demand for iPhone 11 and the launch of the “iPhone SE 2” starting in the same period.
In terms of the calendar holiday quarter, Kuo expects shipments of 70-75 million new iPhone units (iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro combined), which could have been higher if not for supply constraints.
Apple TV+ made two appearances at New York Comic Con this year, with panels on Servant and For All Mankind. For Servant, Apple announced a launch date (November 28) and an advance look at the official trailer.
The audience at the ‘For All Mankind’ panel got to see the first fifteen minutes of the first episode, and a panel interview with executive producer Ron Moore and lead cast.
We have seen several signals that iPhone 11 sales are faring much better than the equivalent iPhone XS and iPhone XR sales period last year. Nikkei Asian Review is also reporting the same, quoting supply chain sources: ‘the autumn is so far much busier than we expected’.
Apple has apparently asked suppliers to increase production of the iPhone 11 by about 10%, which translates to an additional 8 million units.
Apple is set to launch the next version of the iPhone SE 2 in the first quarter of 2020, according to renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The new phone will be more affordable than the rest of the Apple iPhone lineup and feature newer internals, like an A13 processor with 3 GB RAM, in a familiar iPhone 8 chassis.
Kuo says that most of the new iPhone SE’s hardware specification will mirror the iPhone 8. The analyst predicts Apple will sell 30-40 million units across 2020.
The ‘Announce Messages with Siri’ feature was originally promised for iOS 13 but was delayed to ‘later this year’ as Apple hurried to ship iOS 13 in time for the iPhone 11 release. It did not make it in iOS 13.1 either, but it has returned in the just-released iOS 13.2 developer beta.
You need to be an iPhone and AirPods user to take advantage of the feature. With the AirPods in your ears, you will be able to listen and respond to incoming text messages. Siri transcribes the message so you can hear the text without looking at your phone or watch. You can then ignore or immediately reply without having to say ‘Hey Siri’.
Apple analyst Dan Ives at Wedbush today released a report indicating that Apple’s supply chain partners are increasing their production schedules and forecasts as Apple sees stronger-than-expected demand for the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro.