We’re still several months away from the next major iPhone launch so the rumors don’t paint a particularly clear picture of what to expect just yet. Digitimes points to a new supply chain report, however, that continues to believe a new 5.8-inch iPhone with an AMOLED panel supplied exclusively by Samsung is in the works… The report adds that the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhone models will not switch to AMOLED display technology, which lines up with what other channels are communicating, and that the displays can only be made in quantities of 20 million per month at most....

Apple is today launching its Back to School promotion for 2015. This year, it will give away a free pair of Beats Solo2 headphones with the purchase of an eligible Mac. Customers must either purchase an iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac Pro with education pricing to qualify, including build-to-order configurations. The Mac mini does not participate in the deal. Alternatively, customers can upgrade for an additional $100 to a pair of wireless Beats Solo2 headphones, rather than the usual $299 price....

Apple’s HomeKit platform, which allows Siri-control of Wi-Fi connected home automation accessories, is one of the big areas of interest for accessory makers at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. With the event officially kicking off today, we’ve put together one place to find all of the announcements this week for the latest HomeKit products. Some of the highlights so far: the first ceiling fans and window blinds for the platform are on show this week, while more outlets, switches, thermostats and door lock options also gain support....

Ever since Apple unveiled its new M1 SoC, it has been continuously impressing us as we learn more about it. That trend continues today as the M1 has been tested using the GFXBench 5.0 benchmarking tool. The results, while nothing awe-inspiring, are definitely impressive. The benchmarks were run using Apple’s Metal API, and they reveal that the chip outperforms both the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti and the AMD Radeon RX 560....

Apple’s second beta of watchOS 4 is rolling out to developers. The new operating system brings a number of changes across the platform including an app list navigation, and new text UIs throughout. We’ve gone in-depth with over 50 of the changes watchOS 4 brings. watchOS 4 is Apple’s latest upcoming operating system for its wearable. While the changes may not be as drastic as iOS 11’s, the new enhancements are welcome updates....

November will see the arrival of another contender, as Apple is finally launching the Apple TV+ streaming service, one of the worst-kept secrets in the entertainment industry. Rumored for years, it will launch at last just days ahead of Disney+. Unlike the other streaming platforms, Apple TV+ - which will be available inside the Apple TV app on a wide range of devices - will depend entirely upon original programming. Content will include educational shows such as Helpsters, sci-fi dramas like Jason Momoa’s See), a Ghostwriter reboot, and the adaptation of Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story....

Apple has today shared a neat behind the scenes look at how it made the latest iPad Pro ads, which were completely made on iPad Pro. That includes filming, editing, animation, and even music composition. Apple released the new behind the scenes video on its YouTube channel. It takes a look at how the company created the “made with iPad Pro” series. The latest series helps users think about using the iPad Pro in new or different ways with ads like “A new way to go paperless with iPad Pro,” “A new way to create a presentation with iPad Pro,” “A new way to design your space with iPad Pro,” and more....

The Apple Store is down for what is most likely Apple’s last product event of the year. At 10 AM PT, Tim Cook and team will take to the virtual pre-recorded stage to announce the first Apple Silicon Macs. As previewed at WWDC in June, Apple is embarking on a transition to move from Intel-based Macs to ARM architecture using chips of its own design, just like how it designs the A-series processors in iPhones and iPads....

The online Apple Store in the UK, Germany, US and likely other countries suffered some partial outages when the Content Delivery Network (CDN) system failed, resulting in missing images and page design elements. A CDN is a network of local servers distributed around the world which are used to serve static elements of a website. Instead of a single server in California delivering a photo to a website visitor in Germany, for example, the main website sends an instruction to a German server to display the photo....

Ahead of the iPhone 5s launch tomorrow morning in Apple Stores around the world at 8AM local time, Apple appears to be preparing for online orders with its websites for China, Hong Kong, Australia, and Singapore currently experiencing downtime. Orders from Apple’s online store are about to kick off in the coming hours in Australia, while China and Hong Kong opened up reservations for the device earlier this week and also plan 8am retail launches....

Apple has been ordered to pay $308.5 million to Personalized Media Communications after infringing on a patent related to digital rights management (DRM), reported Bloomberg. A federal jury in Marshall, Texas, decided on Friday that the company infringed PMC’s patent after a five-day trial. It all started back in 2015. PMC had sued Apple for allegedly infringing seven of its patents. Apple company successfully challenged the Personalized Media Communications case at the U....

Apple appears to be planning to enable its Apple Pay iPhone mobile payments service in the United Kingdom on July 14th, according to sources at multiple retailers. Apple has informed some Apple Retail employees in the U.K. that Apple Pay support will go live on that Tuesday, while an internal memos for supermarket Waitrose plus an additional retail partner indicate the same date… Apple will also begin training its U.K staff on supporting Apple Pay on July 12th....

Apple Pay continues its international expansion today, going live in Hungary and Luxembourg. This means that iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac users in those countries can now take full advantage of Apple’s mobile payment platform. In Luxembourg, Apple Pay is supported by BGL BNP Paribas. Notably, BCEE, the Luxembourg State and Savings Bank, is not yet supporting Apple Pay. It’s unclear when Apple Pay will expand beyond BGL BNP Paribas in Luxembourg....

Back in June, Apple teased that it would soon add new top level categories for Podcasts. This afternoon, Apple has officially started rolling out those new categories, making it easier to find new podcasts across different genres. The new categories were first spotted by Zach Kahn on Twitter and are visible in the Podcasts app as well as iTunes. Here’s the full list of Apple Podcasts categories: True Crime Comedy Sports Fiction History Business Society and Culture Kids & Family Education News Religion and Spirituality TV & Movies Technology Arts Health and Fitness Music Science Leisure Government When you tap through to view a category, you’ll see things like top shows, new shows, and subcategories....

Apple has prominently featured its own suite of free apps when iOS users first open the App Store, such as its iLife and iWork apps, for a while. Now that Beats Music and Beats Electronics are officially part of the family, the Beats Music app is now appearing on this ‘Apple Apps’ list as well. Beats Music is currently the last entry in the list, described as a way to ‘listen to music that’s always right for you’....

This contrasts with revenue of $7.9 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.14 billion, or $1.26 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 36.6 percent, up from 34.7 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 46 percent of the quarter’s revenue. The company confirmed what many industry observers hadn’t expected, that it is continuing to exercise the subscription accounting treatment required by GAAP, presumably while it implements new systems which don’t assess income in this manner....

Apple has released new software updates to address the Telugu character bug that affected devices running the latest public version of Apple’s software. Updates available today include iOS 11.2.6 for iPhone and iPad, tvOS 11.2.6 for Apple TV, watchOS 4.2.3 for Apple Watch, and macOS 10.13.3 supplemental update for Mac. Per the iOS release notes: The macOS update similarly makes reference to the Telugu character that caused apps to crash when received....

Alongside the new iOS, tvOS, macOS and watchOS updates today, Apple has now pushed an update to iTunes for Mac and PC. This brings the software to version 12.7.3 and adds support for the HomePod. According to Apple: Aside from updates to the HomePod, the change log in the App Store does not mention much else. The update is available on the Mac App Store, as well as via the Apple Software update on Windows....

Apple today has released the first beta of a new Reality Converter application for macOS. This app allows developers to convert, view, and customize USDZ 3D objects on Mac, Apple says. USDZ is Apple’s augmented reality file type. Reality Converter is designed to be used in conjunction with Reality Composer, which is Apple’s tool for allowing developers to prototype and produce content for AR experiences. Reality Composer was introduced alongside the RealityKit framework at WWDC in June....

Two days after releasing 10.8.3 build 12D43 to developers, Apple is today pushing out 10.8.3 build 12D44 with no known issues. Such rapid releases could point to an imminent launch of the OS. Like the last pre-release build, Apple isn’t listing any significant changes and asking developers to focus on AirPlay, AirPort, Game Center, Graphics Drivers, and Safari. Head below for the full release notes: OS X Mountain Lion Update 10....