Beyond a unique sales process and exclusivity to select stores, even returning the Apple Watch Edition will have its own special process. Bringing the 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition back to an Apple Store for a refund will require the device to be scrutinized under micro-inspection by Apple Store staff, according to sources. While the return process itself is unique, the return timeframe will be the standard 14 days like most of Apple’s other products…...

An Apple trophy presented to the developers behind the best apps of 2020 has been described as ‘the most exclusive Apple product of all time’ … Digital Trends‘ Jeremy Kaplan got a look at it. [The trophy is] a hunk of precisely engineered and polished aluminum, handcrafted by the company’s world-famous design team. Limited to a run of exactly 15 (plus a spare or two to have around Apple Park), this is Apple’s most exclusive product of all time....

Thursday’s best deals include Apple TV 4K discounts, August smart locks, and Apple’s official iPad Pro keyboards. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break. Apple TV 4K deals B&H is currently discounting Apple TV 4K with deals from $169. Our top pick is the 64GB model for $184, which is down from the usual $199 price tag. That’s a match of our Black Friday and previous mentions....

Apple has updated its list of banks, credit unions and card issuers for Apple Pay this week to note the addition of support for 30+ additional institutions in the U.S., Australia and China. Most of the new banks and credit unions added this week are for users in the US, while China gets two new supported banks, as Australia gets one (full list below). Apple has been steadily adding support for additional banks and card issuers each month since its launched the payment service....

As part of Apple’s Renew program, where the company is encouraging people to recycle their old devices to help the environment, Apple has posted some exclusive environmental wallpaper to download on its website. The URL (apple.com/thanks) is given out on cards in Apple Stores to people who recycle their old device in store, as a small gesture of appreciation. However, the URL is open to anyone to visit and download some cute, exclusive, iOS 9 wallpaper that isn’t included in the default list of iOS wallpaper …...

Update October 14th: It’s here. In August, Apple launched an iPhone trade-in program for its United States-based retail stores. The promotion is part of Tim Cook’s grand plan to dramatically increase iPhone sales inside of his own stores. Interestingly, the iPhone “Reuse and Recycle” trade-in program has been absent from Apple Stores outside of the United States even though approximately 1/3 of the company’s stores exist outside of the U.S....

A few days ago we detailed a new iOS and macOS bug that crashes Messages when you receive a specific message. Described as the chaiOS bug, Apple now tells Buzzfeed that a fix is expected next week. As we noted earlier this week, chaiOS was discovered by Abraham Masri and potentially causes crashes, resprings, and battery issues on the latest versions of iOS and macOS. We tested the bug and experienced pervasive issues that required removing the message thread and in some cases digging in to macOS and removing the whole Messages database and starting over....

Apple surprisingly released the second beta of watchOS 7.5 to developers on Friday, just a week after releasing the first beta versions of iOS 14.6, watchOS 7.5, and more. The update likely comes with bug fixes and general improvements. Update: watchOS 7.5 beta 2 is now available to public beta users as well. We don’t yet know what is new in watchOS 7.5 beta 2. Even the first beta version introduced last week does not seem to add any new features....

Apple has released an updated firmware version for AirPods 2 and AirPods Pro. The new firmware is version 3E751, and it comes seven months after the previous firmware version was released for AirPods and AirPods Pro users. Unfortunately, there are no release notes for AirPods firmware updates. This means we’ll have to wait until the update is fully rolled out to get a grasp on what’s new. Apple does not have a very robust update mechanism in place for AirPods software, which often leaves users in the dark about changes....

iOS 12.1 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch will be available tomorrow as a free software update. The first significant update to iOS 12 brings a variety of features including Group FaceTime, dual SIM support, real time Depth Control for Portrait mode, new emoji, and more. iOS 12.1 is also expected to address the “beauty-gate” issue that affected the front-facing camera on iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. iOS 12.1 Group FaceTime iOS 12 redesigns how FaceTime looks for audio and video calling with new effects like stickers, Memoji and Animoji, and filters....

Alongside OS X Mountain Lion today, Apple has unleashed an updated version of iWork (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) that takes advantage of the company’s latest hardware and software technologies. The new version of iWork – which includes Pages, Numbers, and Keynote – has been completely enhanced to work perfectly with the new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. Additionally, this new version of iWork includes iCloud Documents in the Cloud support....

Apple’s antitrust issues have again hit the headlines this week – not just once, but twice. First, there were the two additional European Union antitrust investigations, which are just the latest in a long line of probes into Apple’s alleged anti-competitive behaviors. As a non-exhaustive list, there’s Congress, the Department of Justice, a number of US states, the EU, France, Japan, South Korea, and Russia. Then Apple pulled Basecamp’s email app Hey from the App Store, just days after approving it …...

Apple’s autonomous car project is no secret to anyone following the company closely. Apple uses Lexus SUVs that drive on the streets of Cupertino to do its autonomous testing. As reported by MacRumors, one of Apple’s autonomous vehicles was involved in an accident and the company is required to report this information to the DMV. The accident happened on August 24, 2018, at approximately 2:58 p.m. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and the car was actually rear-ended by another vehicle while attempting to merge onto another road....

A new report from CNBC this evening claims that the Apple executive responsible for the company’s iCloud infrastructure has left the company. Eric Billingsley was Apple’s director of internet services operations, overseeing much of the iCloud backend… The report says Patrick Gates will take over Billingsley’s position. Gates was already in charge of infrastructure for services like Siri, but his responsibilities will now expand in lieu of Billingsley. Billingsley came to Apple relatively recently, joining in 2013 after time at eBay and Google....

Apple’s official iPhone 11 and Pro/Max cases on sale 9.7-inch iPad Wi-Fi 128GB hits one of its best prices New weekend movie sale from Apple Apple is heading into the weekend with a huge $5 movie sale across nearly every genre. Of course, all of these titles will become a permanent part of your collection. You’d typically pay $10 per film, although as much as $20 in some instances. Each deal is a match of or new all-time low price....

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity announced today that U2’s Bono is set to join Apple SVP of Design Jony Ive for a conversation about the (RED) organization. The interview will be moderated by Shane Smith of VICE media and will take place on June 21: In an exclusive seminar for Cannes Lions delegates, Bono will join Jonathan Ive, Apple Inc’s Senior Vice President of Design, in a discussion moderated by Shane Smith, CEO and Founder of VICE Media, and introduced by Anne Finucane, Global Strategy and Marketing Officer of (RED) partner, Bank of America....

Last time we checked in on the ongoing U.S. patent-related court cases between Apple and Samsung, Apple’s lawyers were requesting to add the Galaxy S III to its previous motion for a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Nexus line of products from February. Apple was hoping the courts would agree to withhold sales of the S III until a ruling on the preliminary injunction was made. Samsung recommended the judge dismiss Apple’s request and file a new motion, but Apple attorney Josh Krevitt threatened Samsung at a hearing on Thursday that Apple could file a temporary restraining order as early as today to stop sales of the S III before it launches June 21....

As Apple’s iPhone 5S event approaches, some new details about the new device’s internals are emerging. Clayton Morris has claimed on Twitter that the iPhone 5S’s A7 processor is “running at about 31% faster” than the iPhone 5’s A6 chip. The iPhone 5’s A6 chip is dual-core, and it seems like the iPhone 5S will also remain dual-core. However, there could be a major differentiator: 64-bit. We’ve independently heard claims that some of the iPhone 5S internal prototypes include 64-bit processors....

After nearly two months of closures, all but one of Apple’s retail stores in Australia have reopened. The country’s coronavirus mitigation strategy has so far proved successful, allowing it to be among the first regions where Apple feels confident to welcome customers back inside and store teams back to work. Apple Stores in a world warped by the coronavirus look and operate differently, but it’s all in the name of safety....

Following China granting Qualcomm an import and sales ban on some iPhone models earlier this week, Apple announced this evening that it will release a software update to resolve any potential patent infringement. The software update will roll out next week. In a statement to Reuters, Apple said that the software “updates” will roll out to affected devices in China at the start of next week. Details are unclear at this point....