Follow Benjamin on Twitter 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.
Benjamin Mayo also creates apps for iOS as a professional indie developer and contractor; more details here. Email to discuss making your iOS project.
Follow @bzamayo on Twitter and follow @bzamayo on Threads.
The Apple Store is down ahead of Apple Vision Pro preorders starting at at 5AM PT. The Apple tradition is to take the store offline ahead of major events and new product launches.
In this case, Apple has gone one step further by using a bespoke store is down page, with custom animation. On the ‘Back in a blink’ page, the Apple logo transforms into the Vision Pro headset.
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As of today, all new Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 models sold by Apple do not support the blood oxygen feature. This is due to an ongoing patent dispute with Masimo. But if you are buying an Apple Watch from eBay or a third-party retailer right now, how do you know if your watch will have the blood oxygen feature enabled or not?
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A notable omission from Apple’s press release of Vision Pro entertainment apps earlier this week was Netflix. This signalled that the most popular streaming service was not planning on making a native app for the headset.
But it turns out, Netflix is even less interested in supporting the new platform. In a statement to Bloomberg, the company confirmed it is not planning to allow users to run the iPad version of its app on Apple Vision Pro either.
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Apple today unveiled its new 2024 Black Unity collection for Apple Watch, iPhone and iPad. That includes a new watch band to buy, as well as a new watch face and iOS Lock Screen wallpaper.
The new Black Unity Sport Band is available to order today from Apple.com, priced at $49. The new Unity Bloom watch face will be available next week with watchOS 10.3, and the corresponding iPhone and iPad wallpaper will come with iOS 17.3.
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The outcome of the much publicized 2021 Apple vs. Epic trial saw Apple winning on most counts, except for the fact the judge did rule that Apple must relax its App Store anti-steering policy and allow developers like Epic Games to include links to alternative payment systems in their apps.
Apple delayed implementation of this judgement by submitting an appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court today refused to consider Apple’s appeal, which means the original decision should be upheld.
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Apple has launched a rare Lunar New Year promotion in China featuring discounts on all its key products, including the iPhone.
Chinese customers can save up to 500 RMB (about $70) on the iPhone 15 lineup. Savings up to 800 RMB are available on the 15-inch MacBook Air, and customers can find smaller discounts on offer for iPad, Apple Watch SE, AirPods and the Apple Pencil.
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Belkin is going to sell one of the first official accessories for Apple Vision Pro, a clip attachment for the headset’s battery pack. Via Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the Belkin battery clip will go on sale alongside the Vision Pro launch on February 2, and be available in Apple retail stores.
The clip will let customers attach the Vision Pro battery to their clothing, if they don’t have a handy pocket or bag.
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Via Bloomberg, Apple is closing an office in San Diego, which housed part of the Data Operations Annotations group, which evaluates Siri customer responses and helps improve accuracy of the system, among other duties.
The reorganization impacts 121 jobs in San Diego. Apple has offered all affected employees jobs at its Austin, Texas, offices if they are willing to relocate.
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Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro and Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon is now available to stream and watch on Apple TV+.
Directed by Martin Scorsese, the movie depicts how members of the wealthy Osage nation were murdered in a plot to take over the land rights to the plentiful Oklahoma oil supplies. The film is based on the book of the same name by David Grann.
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The first original of the year for Apple TV+ is a new British police crime drama called Criminal Record, starring Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo. The first two episodes are streaming now, with the remainder of the season rolling out weekly.
Apple seems to have started 2024 with a winner, with Criminal Record receiving strong critical acclaim. The show is currently touting a 100% recommended score on Rotten Tomatoes. If you’ve never had Apple TV+ before, you can get a seven day free trial here.
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Apple TV+ funded Ridley Scott’s epic interpretation of Napoleon, but it isn’t streaming just yet. Following its theatrical box office run, the Napoleon movie is now available for buy or rent in a premium video on demand window. You can get it here on the iTunes Store or Amazon Prime.
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In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that the launch preparations for Apple Vision Pro are in full swing, across Apple’s retail division and the supply chain.
Gurman writes that the headset is already shipping to distribution warehouses in the US, seemingly in enough quantity to be able to stock Apple retail stores for a February launch.
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Directed by Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro and Lily Gladstone. The film hit theaters in October.
The three-and-a-half-hour epic is wrapping up its run across thousands of cinemas worldwide. But when will it be available to stream on Apple TV+?
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With iOS 17.2, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max users are able to record 3D spatial videos, which will be rendered for playback on the soon-to-be-released Apple Vision Pro headset.
However, on the iPhone 15 Pro, spatial video is limited to 1080p resolution at 30 FPS. However, there are already some tech spec upgrades swirling in the rumor mill that suggest Apple may be able to offer 4K spatial video quality with the iPhone 16.
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Although the iPhone 16 is not coming until later this year, the rumor mill doesn’t wait and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today reports that the front camera specifications are one of the upgrades to expect arriving with the iPhone 17 lineup next year.
In a blog post, Kuo said that manufacturer Genius is the primary lens supplier for the iPhone front camera, and it can expect to see a revenue boost from a higher spec iPhone 17 front camera module. This will reportedly include an upgrade in resolution to 24-megapixels, up from 12-megapixels in the current phone models (and the forthcoming iPhone 16 lineup).
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Setting up a VPN on your Apple TV 4K allows you to avoid geographic region restrictions and access services not normally available to you. With tvOS 17, VPN apps can now be installed on the Apple TV directly.
VPN apps available now for Apple TV include NordVPN, PureVPN, IPVanish, ExpressVPN, and more. Here’s all the best VPN apps for Apple TV available now …
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The charging situation for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro this year has changed. Apple’s proprietary Lightning port has been replaced with USB-C, so now you can charge your phone with almost any USB-C cable and USB-C power adapter that you can find online. But what exactly do you need to make sure you can charge your iPhone battery as fast as possible?
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Update: Here’s Apple’s statement to 9to5Mac on this decision:
At Apple, we work tirelessly to create products and services that meaningfully impact users’ lives. It’s what drives our teams — Clinical, Design and Engineering — to dedicate years to developing scientifically validated health, fitness and wellness features for Apple Watch, and we are inspired that millions of people around the world have benefited greatly from this product. We strongly disagree with the USITC decision and resulting exclusion order, and are taking all measures to return Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to customers in the U.S. as soon as possible.
The December 25 ban on Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 sales, due to a patent dispute between Apple and Masimo was first reported by us last week. Apple ended watch sales on the online store a few days ago, and now the Apple Watch is also unavailable at Apple retail stores.
The ITC confirmed this morning that the Biden administration chose not to overturn the ban. “After careful consultations, Ambassador Katherine Tai decided not to reverse the ITC’s determination”, the agency said in a statement.
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Apple’s streaming service, Apple TV+, continues to rack up awards and garner industry prestige. How popular the service is exactly remains unclear, although Apple shows did appear on the Nielsen charts streaming three times this year.
But exactly how much content did Apple release in total this year? By our count, Apple released 50 original TV shows and movies in 2023, overall. A solid figure, however it is actually down 10% compared to 2022. There are some reasons for the year-over-year slowdown and Apple’s overall commitment to producing original content appears strong …
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Apple today announced a new partnership with The Athletic and Wirecutter, which will see their content included in the Apple News app. The Athletic sports coverage is now accessible to News+ subscribers, and Wirecutter product review articles will be coming to the News app for all users early next year.
Notably, these publications are owned by The New York Times, which pulled its content from the News app more than three years ago.
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With the tvOS 17 update, Apple TV now supports native VPN apps. Today, NordVPN launches its VPN app for Apple TV, allowing simple on-device setup to connect to its swarm of fast and secure servers.
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Apple TV+ today debuts a new comedy action adventure film The Family Plan, starring Mark Wahlberg. Wahlberg stars as Dan Morgan, an undercover assassin trying to live a new life as a family man. Here’s how to watch.
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The new Pixelmator Pro update, version 3.5, brings full support for HDR image content. With the new Pixelmator, users can shoot HDR photos on their iPhone, edit with HDR layers inside Pixelmator Pro and then export into a variety of standard HDR image formats.
You can get the new Pixelmator as a free update for existing users, and for new purchases it’s currently on sale at just $25 in the Mac App Store.
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The Taylor Swift Eras Tour is now available to watch on Apple TV. The record-breaking worldwide tour was filmed and shown in theaters since October, and is now available to rent to watch at home on digital.
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