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Hands-On With the New tvOS 13 Update for Fourth and Fifth-Generation Apple TV

Wednesday June 26, 2019 2:59 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple in June unveiled new versions of iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS, but the TV update, tvOS 13, hasn't received much coverage, so we thought we'd go hands-on with the software so MacRumors readers know what to expect when tvOS 13 launches this fall.

tvOS updates are always more minor in scale than other software updates, but tvOS 13 brings a decent number of new features worth checking out.

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After installing tvOS 13, the first thing that's noticeable is a new Home screen. The updated Home screen does away with the top menu bar and the Watch Now screen that used to be front and center, replacing it with icons that include Apple TV, the App Store, iTunes movies, iTunes TV shows, and Apple Music.

Watch Now is now only accessible within the TV app rather than being available right when you turn the Apple TV on. Instead of displaying Watch Now content, highlighting the TV app on the Home screen offers up a "What to Watch" interface with content recommendations.


Highlighting the App Store brings up app recommendations, and the same is true for Movies and TV shows. The Apple Music icon shows "Today's Video Hits" with autoplay silent video.

Apps are able to play full-screen video previews right on the Home screen, which is similar to how content autoplays in Netflix when you're browsing through available TV shows and Movies.

tvOS 13 brings a new Picture-in-Picture mode, designed to let you watch TV shows or movies while you're navigating through the rest of the tvOS 13 operating system. Controls at the bottom of the picture-in-picture interface allow for returning to full screen, pausing content, and closing the picture-in-picture window.


Multiple users are supported in tvOS 13, so more than one profile is available on the Apple TV. Each member of the family can sign into their own Apple TV profiles to get customized Watch Now lists, content recommendations, and Apple Music playlists. Switching between profiles can be done through the new Control Center. The Control Center includes the time and date, easy access to search, a Now Playing widget, AirPlay controls, a sleep feature, and an option to switch between users.


There's a new Apple Music feature that displays scrolling lyrics synced in time with the music that's playing, and Apple has added a new Wireless Audio Sync option that uses the iPhone's microphone to calibrate audio synced to Apple TV, such as through a speaker system.

tvOS 13 gets the Apple TV ready for Apple Arcade, Apple's upcoming subscription gaming service. As part of Apple Arcade preparations, Apple has added support for the Xbox Wireless Bluetooth Controller and the PlayStation DualShock 4 Controller, allowing gaming controllers many people already have at home to be used with App Store games.

There are also new screensavers in tvOS 13, which were created by the BBC Natural History Unit, aka the team behind the "Blue Planet" series. These new screensavers showcase the deep ocean around the world, showing off under-the-sea creatures and scenes. The new screensavers don't appear to be active in the beta, but will be available when tvOS 13 launches.


Right now, tvOS 13 is available to both developers and public beta testers, and Apple is planning to launch it in the fall after a few months of beta testing to work out bugs and refine features.

For more on what's coming in tvOS 13, make sure to check out our tvOS 13 roundup.

Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 12, tvOS 13
Tag: Apple TV Guide
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)
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Apple Hires ARM's Lead CPU Architect Amid Rumors of ARM-Based Macs as Early as 2020

Wednesday June 26, 2019 9:18 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Multiple reports have indicated that Apple plans to transition to its own ARM-based processors in Macs starting as early as 2020, and the company recently made a significant hire that lends credence to that objective.


ARM's lead CPU and system architect Mike Filippo joined Apple last month, based out of the Austin, Texas area, according to his LinkedIn profile. Filippo led the development of several chips at ARM between 2009 and 2019, including the Cortex-A76, Cortex-A72, Cortex-A57, and upcoming 7nm+ and 5nm chips.

Filippo also served as Intel's lead CPU and system architect between 2004 and 2009, and he was a chip designer at AMD between 1996 and 2004, so he brings a wealth of chipmaking experience with him to Apple.


Filippo's profile still lists his ARM role as ongoing, but social media talk suggests that he has left the company.

Apple designing its own ARM-based processors for Macs would allow it to move away from Intel processors, which have frequently faced delays. In fact, sources within Intel reportedly confirmed to Axios that Apple does plan to transition to ARM-based processors in Macs starting next year.

Apple already designs its own A-series chips for the iPhone and the iPad, and it also designs the custom T2 security chip in recent Mac models, as part of its broader efforts to move to in-house components and chip designs. Apple has long been known for closely integrating its hardware and software.

Last year, Bloomberg reported that the transition to ARM-based processors is part of a multi-step process that will eventually allow developers to create one app with a single binary that runs across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Apple has already laid the groundwork for this with Project Catalyst.

Update: ARM has confirmed Filippo's departure in a statement provided to Bloomberg: "Mike was a long-time valuable member of the ARM community. We appreciate all of his efforts and wish him well in his next endeavor."

Bloomberg suggests that Filippo's experience could assist Apple with its ARM-based Mac processors. The report also suggests that Filippo could help fill the void left by the departure of Gerard Williams III, the lead designer of Apple's custom iPhone and iPad chips from the A7 to A12X, earlier this year.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Tags: Intel, ARM
Buyer's Guide: MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
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DisplayPort 2.0 Supports Up to Two 8K Displays or One 16K Display, Rollout Expected to Begin in Late 2020

Wednesday June 26, 2019 7:16 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
VESA today announced the release of DisplayPort 2.0, the first major update to the standard since DisplayPort 1.4 in March 2016.


DisplayPort 2.0 has a max effective bandwidth of 77.4 Gbps, nearly triple that of DisplayPort 1.4, enabling support for displays with up to 16K resolution, higher refresh rates, HDR support at higher resolutions, improved support for multiple display configurations, and more.

The increased bandwidth is the result of VESA leveraging Thunderbolt 3's physical layer. DisplayPort 2.0 is the first standard to support 8K resolution at a 60Hz refresh rate with full-color 4:4:4 resolution and HDR-10 support.


DisplayPort 2.0 configuration examples via DisplayPort, USB-C, or Thunderbolt 3 ports, which will all support the new specification:
Single display resolutions
- One 16K (15360x8460) display @60Hz and 30 bpp 4:4:4 HDR (with DSC)
- One 10K (10240x4320) display @60Hz and 24 bpp 4:4:4 (no compression)

Dual display resolutions
- Two 8K (7680x4320) displays @120Hz and 30 bpp 4:4:4 HDR (with DSC)
- Two 4K (3840x2160) displays @144Hz and 24 bpp 4:4:4 (no compression)

Triple display resolutions
- Three 10K (10240x4320) displays @60Hz and 30 bpp 4:4:4 HDR (with DSC)
- Three 4K (3840x2160) displays @90Hz and 30 bpp 4:4:4 HDR (no compression)
DisplayPort 2.0 also supports VESA's new Panel Replay capability for improved power efficiency when connecting to high-resolution displays.

VESA has made the DisplayPort 2.0 specification available to manufacturers and expects the first products incorporating the standard to appear on the market by late 2020. DisplayPort 2.0 is backward compatible with previous versions of the standard and incorporates all of the key features of DisplayPort 1.4a.

DisplayPort 2.0 will certainly be beneficial to Apple's high-resolution products like the upcoming Pro Display XDR, and it will likely be supported on future Macs, but it is unclear when the company will adopt the standard.

Tags: VESA, DisplayPort, DisplayPort 2.0
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Apple News Launches Candidate Guide to the 2020 Democratic Debates

Wednesday June 26, 2019 3:39 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple today announced a Democratic presidential candidate guide for Apple News, offering users what it describes as "a timely, trusted and comprehensive look at the 20 individuals participating in the first Democratic debates."


Curated by a team of Apple News editors, the guide aims to be a one-stop shop for learning about each candidate and their policies, with information drawn from sources including ABC News, Axios, CNN, Fox News, NBC News, Politico, The Hill, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, TIME, USA Today, Vox and others.
"The 2020 Democratic field is complex, and we want to offer Apple News readers a trusted place to learn more about candidates they're familiar with and those they may be hearing about for the first time," said Lauren Kern, editor-in-chief of Apple News. "The candidate guide in Apple News is a robust and reliable resource, connecting readers to valuable at-a-glance information and to great journalism from our partners."
The section will allow users to read about the candidates' biographies and experience, as well as notable moments and quotes, current positions on key issues, and videos, photos and recent coverage from a range of news sources.

In addition, Apple News will feature updates from the debate, with articles and video highlights from NBC News, including fact checking, reactions and key onstage moments and takeaways.

The Democratic debates are set to be hosted by NBC News, MSNBC and Telemundo in Miami, Florida, on June 26 and 27. Apple says the candidate guide will feature in the Top Stories section of the News app on iPhone, iPad and Mac from today, with continuous updates throughout the primary campaign.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: Apple News Guide
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Oppo Unveils 'World's First' Under-Screen Front-Facing Camera

Wednesday June 26, 2019 3:15 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Chinese mobile maker Oppo today unveiled its solution to the ubiquitous smartphone display notch – the "word's first" Under-Screen Camera (USC).


The fullscreen display-enabling technology was demonstrated to the public at Shanghai's Mobile World Congress, following a teaser earlier this month.

According to Oppo, the selfie camera is embedded under a section of the display that's made of a highly transparent custom material with a special pixel structure, which enables light to pass through to the lens.

The selfie camera is also said to be larger than other front-facing cameras, featuring a wider aperture lens in front of the sensor.

The company has already admitted that putting a camera under the screen will make it harder to match the quality of an unobstructed smartphone camera.

To compensate, however, Oppo said it has developed software algorithms that address haze, glare, and color cast issues, resulting in pictures that are "on par with mainstream devices."

We won't know how accurate that claim is until the tech hits the market, and it's still not clear exactly when the under-screen camera will debut in a consumer product, but the company says it plans to launch a device featuring its USC "in the near future."



This isn't the first time Oppo has tried to innovate in the mobile camera space. The company in February introduced a 10x optical zoom camera system for smartphones, and just last month unveiled its latest flagship OnePlus 7 Pro phone, which features a bezel-free display and pop-up selfie camera.

Apple's 2019 iPhones are widely expected to include a triple rear camera system featuring wide, telephoto, and ultra-wide lenses. The display notch, which houses Apple's TrueDepth camera and Face ID tech, will almost certainly remain.

Tag: Oppo
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Apple Pay Launches in 13 More European Countries, Sparkassen and Volksbanken in Germany Later This Year

Wednesday June 26, 2019 2:00 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple Pay is officially going live in 13 additional countries today, including Greece, Portugal, Romania, and Slovakia, bringing Apple's mobile payment system to millions more users across Europe.



In Slovakia, for example, users can already load cards onto their Apple Wallet from Boon, Edenred, J&T Banka, Monese, N26, Revolut, Slovenska sporitelna, Tatra banka, and mBank.

It's a similar story in many more countries, based on screenshots posted by Apple users on social media this morning.

Apple Pay now also appears to support a number of popular bank cards across Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Romania, and Slovenia.



Apple Pay has been gradually expanding across Europe and the Middle East, launching in Poland, Norway, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia, Austria, and Iceland over the last year.

The mobile payment system allows iPhone 6, 6s, 6, 7, 8, 6 Plus, 6s Plus, 7 Plus, 8 Plus, SE, X, XS, XS Max, and XR users to make payments for goods and services in retail stores using an NFC chip built into their iPhones.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in March that Apple Pay would be available in more than 40 countries and regions by the end of 2019, although Apple's website has yet to be updated with the full list. Apple Pay first launched in the United States in October 2014. You can view the full list of Apple Pay countries and regions on Apple’s website.

Update: Sparkassen and Volksbanken banks in Germany will also support Apple Pay later this year. (Thanks, Kai!)

Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Tag: Europe
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Apple Confirms Acquisition of Self-Driving Vehicle Startup Drive.ai

Tuesday June 25, 2019 4:53 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple purchased Drive.ai, an autonomous driving startup based out of Mountain View, the company confirmed to Axios today.

Apple has hired dozens of Drive.ai engineers, and Drive.ai has ceased all operations over the course of the last few weeks.


Rumors in early June suggested Apple was in the process of acquiring Drive.ai to boost its in-house development of a self-driving vehicle system.

The deal at the time was described as an acqui-hire, suggesting Apple was interested in the company for its employees rather than its technology.

Drive.ai was first founded in 2015 by a group of Stanford University students, and launched a self-driving shuttle service in select cities in Texas. The company ran into difficulties, however, and sought out a buyer, which turned out to be Apple.

There's no word on the purchase price, but Axios says Apple has taken on new hires in the areas of engineering and product design.

Rumors have suggested that as part of its self-driving car efforts, Apple is working on a self-driving campus shuttle service to drive employees between the company's various Bay Area offices.

Apple's Drive.ai acquisition confirms that work on the Apple Car project is still underway. Apple in February laid off 190 employees in its self-driving car division as part of a restructuring effort.

Related Roundup: Apple Car
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Hands-On With LG's Massive 5K 49-Inch $1,500 Display

Tuesday June 25, 2019 2:38 pm PDT by Juli Clover
LG recently came out with a new curved ultrawide monitor sporting a 5K resolution, a massive 49-inch display size, and a ~$1,500 price tag.

In our latest YouTube video, we went hands-on with the 49WL95C to see if it's a worthwhile purchase for a Mac user.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.

The 49WL95C display is similar to the 49-inch U4919DW Dell monitor that we took a look at earlier this year, and which turned out to be popular with MacRumors readers. Like the Dell monitor, the LG 49WL95C features thin bezels, a massive screen size and a deep curve.

There's an ambient light sensor at the top of the display, along with 10W speakers at the bottom of the monitor that are surprisingly loud. Adjustments can be made using the controls on the back of the right side, which is also where you'll find two USB-A ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack.


At the back, there's a single USB-C port that offers up to 80W of power for charging a MacBook, 2 HDMI ports, a DisplayPort, two additional USB-A ports, and a port for plugging in a power cable. The display has a built-in power supply, which means there's no bulky power brick to deal with, a definite plus.


The display's stand offers up full tilt, height, and swivel support, and we were impressed with the stand's build quality. It's a heavy duty stand, which is necessary since the monitor weighs in at 28 pounds. This is a huge monitor and will require a deep desk or a mounting solution to use.

It's important to note that the 49WL95C is a 5K display (5120 x 1440), but it's not a true 5K resolution. Instead, it's a 32:9 dual QHD setup with a resolution of 2560 x 1440.

LG designed the display with the expectation that buyers will be using it with multiple windows open at a time or two full screen apps rather than a single app taking up the entire 49 inches of display real estate.

You're not going to want to use this kind of display for gaming (due to the limited 60Hz refresh rate and no support for AMD's FreeSync or Nvidia's G-Sync), but it's good for those who currently use two 27-inch monitors and want something a little more seamless.

We tested the 49WL95C with a 2018 15-inch MacBook Pro, and we're not sure it's the best purchase for MacBook users. On a MacBook Pro (and a 2018 MacBook Air we also tested with) the maximum resolution we were able to get was 3480 x 1080p, which doesn't look great on such a massive display. Text, images, and other user interface elements just aren't crisp with the 1080p vertical resolution.


We tried a USB-C cable, a DisplayPort to USB-C cable, a Thunderbolt 3 dock, and an eGPU and weren't able to get the full 5120 x 1440 resolution. With an iMac Pro, though, we were able to run the display at full resolution over USB-C. It's probably also going to work well with the 2013 Mac Pro (or one of the new 2019 Mac Pro models, of course), but for Mac notebooks, we don't recommend it.

There have been other reports from Mac users who have also been unable to get the display to work at full resolution with their machines, while others have had no trouble at all, so it's not entirely clear what's going on.

There could be a graphics driver or other issue specific to similar Mac models preventing them from supporting the 5120 x 1440 resolution. If you have a Windows PC though, it works great. We had no problems with the Surface Book 2.

Let us know what you think of the 49WL95C display, and if you have one, whether you've been able to get it to run at the full resolution on a MacBook Pro or a MacBook Air.

Tag: LG
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Intel to Auction Off Modem IP and Patents

Tuesday June 25, 2019 1:41 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Intel is planning to auction off its portfolio of patents related to cellular wireless connectivity, according to a new report from IAM.

Intel's upcoming auction follows the company's April decision to exit the 5G smartphone modem business. Intel stopped work on 5G modem technology after Apple and Qualcomm reached a settlement and a supply agreement that will see Qualcomm providing 5G modem chips for future iPhones.

Intel 5G Modem
Multiple rumors have suggested Apple and Intel have held talks about Apple's potential purchase of Intel's German modem unit. The two were in talks as early as this month, with Intel planning to sell its modem business off in pieces.

Intel is aiming to sell off 8,500 assets from its patent portfolio, including 6,000 patents related to 3G, 4G, and 5G cellular standards and an additional 1,700 patents on wireless implementation technologies.

The auction that Intel has planned is separate from its efforts to sell its smartphone modem business, though IAM speculates that an interested buyer could potentially pick up both. It's also possible that a group of companies could band together to purchase the patents that are up for grabs.
It could be that Intel's decision to sell its portfolio is part of a strategy to drum up interest in the modem business as a whole. There is no indication yet that Intel has ruled out selling the patent assets to a non-practising entity, which might encourage a group of operating companies to band together to take the assets off the assertion market.
Should Apple purchase either Intel's patent business, Intel's patents, or both, it would give the Cupertino company a leg up in its own mobile chip development. Apple is working on creating its own line of modem chips to reduce reliance on suppliers like Qualcomm, but it will be several years yet before Apple's own chips are ready to be used in iPhones and other devices.

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Apple Has Explored Adding Positionable Cameras to Apple Watch Bands

Tuesday June 25, 2019 11:06 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple has explored the idea of adding a camera to the Apple Watch, although not in the way one might expect.

MacRumors mockup of Apple Watch with camera band

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today granted Apple a patent that describes an Apple Watch band with a camera or optical sensor affixed to the end of it. This would enable the Apple Watch to capture photos and video, with the Apple Watch's display serving as the viewfinder.

The band would be made with flexible materials, like many current bands, allowing the user to bend or twist it to aim the camera. Apple's patent includes various illustrations of how the band and camera could be positioned, including one where the camera hovers just above the Apple Watch's display.


A camera on the Apple Watch could enable basic photo capturing and FaceTime calls on the wrist. The patent also describes the possibility of multiple optical sensors, suggesting that a future Apple Watch band could have both front and rear cameras, allowing users to switch between views like on the iPhone.

Apple filed the patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on September 16, 2016, a week after it unveiled Apple Watch Series 2 models. While both Series 3 and Series 4 models have launched without camera bands since then, Apple could certainly move forward with the idea in future models.

Apple files numerous patent applications every week, however, and many of the inventions do not see the light of day. Patents are also very detailed, encompassing many possible ideas, even ones that Apple might not have any plans to advance. So, the exact implementation if any remains to be seen.

Over the years, rumors have come and gone about the Apple Watch gaining a front-facing camera in the bezel above its display, but this has never come to fruition, perhaps because of the limited internal space available inside the device. A camera watch band is just one potential solution to that problem.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 5, watchOS 6
Tag: patent
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)
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Amazon's 48-Hour 'Prime Day' Event Takes Place July 15 and 16

Tuesday June 25, 2019 9:21 am PDT by Juli Clover
For the last few years, Amazon has been hosting an epic Prime Day sale that offers up deals and discounts on a huge range of products.

This year, Prime Day is actually going to take place over two days, kicking off at midnight on July 15 and lasting through July 16. Last year's Prime Day ultimately lasted 36 hours, but 48 hours will be the longest Prime Day event to date.


Amazon has some Prime Day event previews on its website, and Prime Day itself will include discounts on everything from tech products to home products, clothing, toys, and more. Amazon is also highlighting products launching on Amazon on Prime Day, such as the Mophie Juice Pack Air.

When Prime Day kicks off, Amazon's website will be filled with lightning deals that kick off at different times over the course of the day, with the available products rotating over time. Lightning deals last for as long as stock lasts, and some of the better deals can go quick.

Last year, we did a live blog covering all of the best Apple-related deals available during Amazon's Prime Day, and we plan to do similar coverage this year so make sure to tune in to MacRumors on July 15 and 16 for help sorting through all of the sales.

Prime Day sales are designed for Amazon Prime members, and a Prime membership is required to get the deals. Prime Day discounts will be available to Amazon customers in the United States, UK, Italy, India, Germany, France, China, Canada, Australia, Belgium, UAE, Austria, Spain, Singapore, and the Netherlands.

Tag: Amazon
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Apple to Expand Seattle Presence With 2,000 New Hires Over Next 5 Years

Monday June 24, 2019 2:29 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple is planning to expand in Seattle with an additional 2,000 new hires over the course of the next five years, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced in a statement today.

333 Dexter, where Apple is rumored to be expanding in Seattle
Apple has several offices in Seattle with teams working on iCloud, artificial intelligence, and Siri, and recent rumors suggested Apple was planning a major expansion, which has now been confirmed. From Durkan:
"These new jobs confirm what we already knew, we have the best talent and city anywhere. Apple's expanded footprint in Seattle is another example of the growing opportunity that exists for residents of Seattle and the economic powerhouse our City has become. Yet we know that as Seattle continues to grow, we must act urgently to address the pressures that follow - from tackling affordability to new affordable housing to increasing transit.

"By next year, an estimated 70% of jobs in Washington State will require some sort of post-secondary credential. It is my top priority that our kids growing up in Seattle today are prepared to fill the great engineering and computer science jobs that Apple announced today. That's why we created the Seattle Promise and the Opportunity Promise - so our youth are connected with resources and put on a path to the good paying jobs of Seattle's future."
Earlier this month, there were rumors that Apple was looking at leasing a large office complex in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood. Apple is said to be planning to occupy a two-tower building at 333 Dexter Avenue, which offers around 630,000 square feet of office space and could accommodate 4,200 employees.

Apple in late 2018 said that it would establish a new site in Seattle, which could be the large office building mentioned in rumors.

Apple already operates a major Seattle engineering hub focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning, and in 2018, expanded its office space at Two Union Square in downtown Seattle.

Tag: Seattle
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