Today I was able to go hands-on with an early preview of Apple Arcade, which Apple announced back during its March services-oriented event. Apple Arcade is an upcoming $4.99 a month gaming service that will allow gamers to play over 100 new and exclusive titles across platforms like the iPhone and iPad, Apple TV, and Mac.

We were able to gain access to a special internal early access program aimed at Apple employees, which allowed us to go hands-on with Apple Arcade on a MacBook Pro running the latest macOS Catalina beta. As was noted by 9to5Mac’s Gui Rambo, Apple is charging a small subscription fee of $0.49/mo to test Apple Arcade until iOS 13 launches later in the fall.

Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube, and watch our hands-on video walkthrough, as we take Apple Arcade for a brief spin to highlight the six games — Way of the Turtle, Down in Bermuda, Hot Lava, Kings of the Castle, Sneaky Sasquatch, and Frogger in Toy Town — available during the initial early access period.
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Last Saturday, 9to5Mac got access to Apple’s early access program for Apple Arcade, which was announced back in March when the company held its special event dedicated to Services. Apple Arcade will allow iOS, Mac, and Apple TV users to pay a flat monthly fee and access a bundle of otherwise paid apps through the App Store. Now we’ve discovered that Apple Arcade will likely be priced at $4.99 per month.

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Apple announced Apple Arcade back in March when it held its special event dedicated to Services. Apple Arcade will allow iOS, Mac, and Apple TV users to pay a flat monthly fee and access a bundle of otherwise paid apps through the App Store.

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Similar to last year’s introduction of the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, Apple will release three new ‘iPhone 11’ models this fall. The new iPhones will feature the Apple A13 chip, internally known by its platform codename Cebu, model T8030.

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Not a mockup, some information redacted to protect our sources

We’re less than a week away from WWDC, when Apple is expected to unveil the new versions of all its operating systems, including iOS 13. We’ve talked about what to expect in detail, with information from sources familiar with the development of Apple’s operating systems. Today, we have screenshots from iOS 13, shared exclusively with 9to5Mac, that show some of its new features.

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Apple is working on bringing the Mac and iOS closer together with the introduction of macOS 10.15 and iOS 13. Siri Shortcuts, Screen Time, and more are expected to be unveiled for Mac during its Worldwide Developers conference in June.

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Apple is expected to unveil iOS 13, the next major version of the iPhone and iPad operating system, at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, which kicks off on June 3rd. Now, people familiar with the development of the operating system have shared exclusive details with 9to5Mac. Read on for new details about what to expect.

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During the “It’s show time” event in late March, Apple announced that the TV app would be coming to the Mac soon. This naturally sparked discussions about whether Apple would be bringing its other media apps to the Mac, finally splitting up iTunes into distinct applications.

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Last week, a report suggested that Apple is planning to release a “truly wireless” version of Beats Powerbeats headphones next month. Today’s release of iOS 12.2 includes imagery of the new headphones, which we now know will be called Powerbeats Pro.

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There have been rumors about an Apple News subscription service since mid-2018, starting with a report by Bloomberg that said Apple was planing to utilize it’s acquisition of Texture to launch its own paid subscription service for news, including magazines from different publishers. Later, a report by The Information claimed that Apple was considering an all-in-one subscription model with magazines, tv shows and music.

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Earlier today, Apple released the first beta of iOS 12.2 for developers. This first release includes quite a few changes and new features, which you can learn more about in our post. One of those changes, which is currently hidden from public view, is the addition of a new setup screen that’s used when configuring AirPods. This new setup screen clearly states that the user will be able to talk to Siri with AirPods or iPhone by saying “Hey, Siri”.

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Yesterday, we wrote about a new icon found on watchOS 5.1.2 showing a new model of Apple’s Smart Battery Case designed for new iPhone models such as the iPhone XS, XR and XS Max, which have no home button and the back camera in a vertical arrangement.

Today, we have obtained images that show a more clear picture of the new Smart Battery Case and also new information found in iOS that gives us an indication of Apple’s planned release schedule. There are images for three different models of the battery case: A2070, A2071 and A2171.

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Apple’s Smart Battery Case, with its controversial design, was released back in 2015 with support for the iPhone 6 and 6S and it now currently supports the iPhone 6, 6S and 7. With the release of iPhone X and iPhone 8, users wondered whether a new battery case would be released for this new iPhone design, but so far nothing has been announced nor released by Apple.

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We’ve seen a similar icon before, back on the fifth beta of iOS 12. That icon showed an iPad with no Home button, rounded corners and no notch, but it was a small icon designed to be used in the battery widget. Therefore, it didn’t give us a lot of detail on the form factor of the device. Now, we’ve found a more detailed look at the 2018 iPad Pro redesign within iOS.

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The ultimate goal of a creative tool is to foster seamless innovation and collaboration. Adobe understands this, having built its brand on industry-leading creative products for decades. But how do you evolve a brand to become more approachable to a larger audience? For many tech companies of late, brand illustrations have proved successful. When a logo or wordmark isn’t personal enough, illustrations help bridge the gap between a product and a user, becoming part of a brand identity. Today Adobe is rolling out a fresh illustration style for here that will begin to populate its tools and services. 9to5Mac took an inside look at the process of reimagining the aesthetics of tools that creative professionals rely on every day.

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Update: This post has been removed due to 9to5mac’s sourcing policies.

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Noticeably missing from last week’s Apple event was AirPower, which was originally announced during the September 2017 event. AirPower is a charging mat capable of charging up to three devices simultaneously, but recent reports have suggested Apple has hit a series of engineering issues with the accessory.

Now, the iPhone XS packaging, as well as iOS 12.1, suggest that AirPower isn’t dead just yet.

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Apple’s release of iOS 12.1 earlier today has already given us a peek at a new feature: Memoji syncing. In that article, I suggested that this feature would make sense with the release of a new 2018 iPad with a TrueDepth camera system later this year. Currently, Memoji is only supported on the iPhone X and 2018 models. But adding support to the iPad would mean users would want to sync their characters between each device.

Now, iOS 12.1 offers another hint at new iPad models coming this year.

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Today, Apple released the first beta of iOS 12.1. While it may seem too soon to start yet another beta cycle, software is never really completed, so it makes sense for Apple to offer betas to allow developers and users to start filing bug reports and testing new features, including the much-awaited group FaceTime.

As usual, Apple’s software release also offers some hints as to future features…

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In addition to discovering exclusive iPhone XS details today, 9to5Mac can exclusively share the first look at the new Apple Watch Series 4. This is the new Apple Watch that we believe Apple will unveil at its special event announced earlier today.

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Earlier today Apple officially announced when and where it will hold its next big event. Apple’s September 12th event is expected to include the introduction of three new iPhones, and 9to5Mac can exclusively share the first look at both new 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch OLED iPhones: the iPhone XS.

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Ken Kocienda worked at Apple from 2001 through 2016. On September 4, Kocienda is releasing a new book ‘Creative Selection’ (preorder: Amazon, iBooks), that details Apple’s design process from the inside, retelling his own anecdotes of working on the iPhone and iPad, demoing to Steve Jobs and more.

In this exclusive excerpt, you get a sense of how designing the iPhone software keyboard was anything but obvious. In late 2005, Apple paused all internal development on iPhone and told all engineers to invent keyboard concepts. This excerpt details how Kocienda’s winning design was shot down by Phil Schiller and Tony Fadell, which sent him back to the drawing board …

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We’ve been expecting an update to the iPad Pro line for later this year. Rumors suggest that the new version will have no home button, Face ID and thinner bezels, following the design trend introduced by Apple with iPhone X.

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We’ve heard rumors about a possible dual-SIM iPhone model to be released this year, with the feature coming to the Plus model and including dual-SIM support for specific regions.

With iOS 12 developer beta 5, we’ve found evidence that dual-SIM support is indeed coming to iPhone, at least at the software level…

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