MacRumors

Apple today informed developers about an upcoming Subscription Code feature that's designed to allow developers to offer up discounted or free auto-renewable subscriptions to lure customers.

Later this year, you'll be able to acquire, retain, and win back subscribers with subscription offer codes: unique, alphanumeric codes that provide free or discounted prices for auto-renewable subscriptions. Provide your one-time use codes digitally or offline at physical events, alongside products, and more. Customers on iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 and later can redeem offer codes on the App Store, through a one-time code redemption URL, or within your app if you've implemented the presentCodeRedemptionSheet API.

Apple says that developers can give customers unique, alphanumeric codes that are one time use, provided at digital or physical events, alongside products, and more. Subscription codes are an iOS and iPadOS 14 feature and are coming later this year.

More information about Subscription Codes can be found on Apple's developer website.

Intel today announced the launch of its new 11th-generation Tiger Lake chips that are designed for use in laptops. The new chips included integrated Xe graphics, Thunderbolt 4, USB 4, PCIe Gen 4, and WiFi 6 support.

Intel is calling the Tiger Lake chips, which are built on a 10-nanometer "SuperFin" process, the world's best processor for thin and light laptops. Tiger Lake chips offer significant performance and efficiency gains over the prior-generation Ice Lake chips.

The new chips offer 20 percent better CPU performance than Ice Lake chips, according to Intel. The integrated Iris Xe graphics are better than 90 percent of all discrete notebook GPUs sold last year and offer up to twice the graphics performance along with 5x better artificial intelligence performance.

There are nine new SKUs across Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 with clock speeds up to 4.8GHz.

Intel says that the new Tiger Lake CPUs will be in more than 50 laptops coming this fall and named a number of partners such as Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung, but Apple was not among them. Since the Tiger Lake chips are for lower power laptops and max out at 28W, it is unlikely Apple will ever use them.

Apple is transitioning to Arm-based Apple Silicon chips beginning this year, and rumors have indicated that the 13-inch MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air will be some of the first machines to get Apple Silicon chips.

If the next-generation ‌MacBook Air‌ adopts ‌Apple Silicon‌, there will be no need for Apple to adopt Tiger Lake chips.

While new iPhone and Apple Watch models are typically unveiled on stage at a September event, 2020 has been anything but an ordinary year, so there is a good chance that Apple's fall product announcements will deviate from the norm at least slightly.

At the very least, it is unlikely that Apple will hold an in-person iPhone event this year, unless it were limited to a small group of journalists. Similar to its WWDC keynote in June, Apple may be forced to introduce new products with an online presentation, possibly along with press releases shared on the Apple Newsroom.

Last month, leaker Jon Prosser claimed that new Apple Watch and iPad models would be announced via press release during the second week of September, followed by a presumably-virtual iPhone event in October. However, another proven leaker who uses the alias L0vetodream has since claimed there will be "no Watch this month."

The same Twitter account has revealed several accurate details about upcoming Apple hardware and software, including the launch timing of new iPhone SE and iPad Pro models earlier this year, the marketing name macOS Big Sur, the hand washing feature in watchOS 7, the handwriting-to-text feature Scribble in iPadOS 14, and much more.

If accurate, this tweet lends credence to Japanese blog Mac Otakara's claim that Apple plans to unveil both iPhone 12 and Apple Watch Series 6 models during an event in the second half of October. Prosser himself said that there will be an iPhone event in October, so it is possible that he was simply inaccurate about the Apple Watch timing.

September would certainly feel unusually empty without any product announcements, however, so perhaps Apple will fill this gap with some other products via press release. Potential candidates include a redesigned iPad Air with an edge-to-edge display, a smaller HomePod, Apple-branded over-ear headphones, AirTags, and a new Apple TV.

India has today banned 118 apps, including the popular game PUBG Mobile, according to Medianama. The apps were accused of being engaged in activities "prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of state and public order" by the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

Thus far, the Indian government has banned 224 apps this year, mainly due to implied security concerns with regards to Chinese ownership. In June, India banned 59 apps including TikTok and WeChat, and banned another 47 in July.

"The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users' data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India. The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defense of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures," the Ministry said in a statement.

The Ministry explained that bipartisan concerns were flagged up about the large number of apps, "by various public representatives, both outside and inside the Parliament of India. There has been a strong chorus in the public space to take strict action against Apps that harm India's sovereignty as well as the privacy of our citizens." On the basis of "credible" information, evidencing the functionality embedded in apps that allowed for "data harvesting practices," the apps were deemed by the Ministry to be "a severe threat to security of the State."

Concerns about rogue data harvesting practices on iOS are regarded as being of the same severity as on Android. Apple and Google will now be forced to remove the apps from their respective app stores, effective immediately.

A Parliamentary Standing Committee specifically discussed the need for a ban on PUBG Mobile in July. PUBG Mobile is owned by Chinese tech company Tencent, which was likely the reason for its inclusion in the ban. PUBG was said to be among the most popular games in India prior to today's ban. The country was also one of the largest markets for TikTok, prior to its ban in June. The extended app ban list also includes two apps that claimed to offer access to TikTok via a VPN.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News 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.

UK carrier EE has launched a new package called the "Full Works" plan for iPhone, which includes subscriptions to Apple Music, Apple TV+, and Apple Arcade. It is the first carrier plan to bundle multiple Apple subscription services.

As a result of a new collaboration with Apple, the plan includes subscriptions to Apple services such as ‌Apple Music‌, ‌Apple TV‌+, and ‌Apple Arcade‌, as well as unlimited calls, texts, and data, and an upgrade when new ‌iPhone‌ models are released. Apple News+ and iCloud storage are not included, and the ‌Apple Music‌ family plan is unavailable. The plan includes alternate "smart" benefits such as "BT Sport Ultimate" app access or a "Roam Further" pass instead of Apple subscriptions.

EE is the UK's largest carrier and a leading 5G provider. While the telecoms firm usually charges a premium compared to other networks, the plan offers overall savings on the subscription services. The Full Works package offers the ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro with unlimited calls, texts, and data, and ‌Apple Music‌, ‌Apple TV‌+, and ‌Apple Arcade‌ for £77 per month. Without the Apple subscription services, the same plan costs £68, resulting in the services bundle effectively costing £9. The same services accumulatively cost £19.97 directly from Apple.

The plan is available with multiple ‌iPhone‌ models, and will presumably be available with the upcoming ‌iPhone‌ 12 as the plan is 5G-ready. The plan will also become available for businesses from the end of September.

Apple has been rumored to be launching a new series of bundled subscription services this fall, called "Apple One." The series of bundles would allow customers to subscribe to several Apple digital services together. This is expected to result in a lower monthly price than when the services are subscribed to individually. It is likely that ‌Apple One‌ will also be paired with carrier plans when released, and the partnership with EE indicates Apple's increasing interest in bundling its services.

Apple today announced that the iOS app economy has created nearly 300,000 new jobs in the United States since April 2019, citing research shared by Dr. Michael Mandel, chief economic strategist at the non-profit Progressive Policy Institute.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple said the App Store continues to provide economic opportunities, with apps supporting essential needs like remote learning, telehealth, and food ordering. According to Apple, the App Store ecosystem now supports more than 2.1 million U.S. jobs across all 50 states, an increase of 15 percent since last year.

Apple's press release provides some examples of companies of various sizes that have seen success on the App Store in the past year.

"We've had incredible growth in the last year, and we've massively expanded our team to meet demand," said Maxeme Tuchman, co-founder of kid-friendly video calling app Caribu. "It means so much to us to not only be able to help connect families and friends at this difficult time, but to be able to provide stable, well-paying jobs to our growing number of employees as well. The App Store has given us a platform on which we can do both."

Apple also noted that it employs over 90,000 employees across all 50 states, and supports 450,000 manufacturing and supply chain jobs. The company is on track to fulfill its commitment to contribute $350 billion in the U.S. over a five-year period.

Shipments of Apple's higher-end AirPods Pro wireless earbuds are expected to equal those of its second-generation AirPods by the end of the year, according to industry sources (via DigiTimes).

Apple's shipments for AirPods Pro have been growing steadily since its launch in October 2019, likely to equal those of AirPods 2 by the end of 2020, an encouraging development for SiP substrate suppliers including Taiwan's Nan Ya PCB and Korean makers, the sources said. SiP is likely to become the mainstream technology for AirPods, the sources continued.

Seven months after launching updated AirPods, Apple unveiled ‌AirPods Pro‌, featuring an all-new in-ear design and several improvements over the regular AirPods, including active noise cancellation, improved sound quality, and water and sweat resistance.

• AirPods vs. AirPods Pro: Features Compared

Those new features inevitably came with an additional cost, with ‌AirPods Pro‌ priced at $249, compared to second-generation AirPods starting at $159. That hasn't put off consumers, however. Indeed, Apple accounted for nearly half of all sales of true wireless earbuds in 2019, and those sales are expected to grow to 82 million units this year, according to Counterpoint Research.

According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who often reliably predicts Apple's product plans, Apple is working on a second-generation version of the ‌‌AirPods Pro‌‌ that will go into mass production into the fourth quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2022, suggesting no ‌‌AirPods Pro‌‌ refresh in 2020 or early 2021.

Kuo has also said that Apple is working on a third-generation version of its lower-end ‌AirPods‌, for a planned rollout in the first half of 2021. The new AirPods are expected to feature a form factor design similar to ‌AirPods Pro‌, thanks to a more compact system-in-package (SiP) that allows the audio features to be integrated into a more compact casing.

In the meantime, existing AirPods 2 and ‌AirPods Pro‌ owners have more to look forward to with the official release of iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur, when AirPods 2 and ‌AirPods Pro‌ will gain an automatic switching function between Apple devices. For example, if you finish a phone call on your iPhone and pick up your iPad to watch a movie, the AirPods will automatically switch over.

• When Will iOS 14 Be Released?

‌AirPods Pro‌ are also getting a new "spatial audio" feature that promises to deliver a theater-like surround sound experience wherever you are. Apple says spatial audio with dynamic head tracking puts surround sound channels in exactly the right place, even as you turn your head or move your device. This feature will require an ‌iPhone‌ 7 or newer.

Draft legislation submitted in Russia this week could see Apple's App Store commission cut by a third if it is ratified by the country's parliament.

Reuters reports that the bill requires that commissions on the sale of apps by Apple and Google be capped at 20%. Apple has a long-standing policy of collecting 30% commission on all sales (including in-app purchases) in the App store.

The bill, submitted to Russia's lower house of parliament by lawmaker Fedot Tumusov, stipulates that commissions on the sale of applications be capped at 20%.

The bill, if adopted, would also oblige app sellers to pay a third of their commissions to a special training fund for IT specialists on a quarterly basis.

According to a Russian-language Kommersant report, which has been shared by Tumusov on Twitter, the bill also proposes to oblige owners of mobile operating systems to allow users to install alternative stores. This would be especially problematic for Apple, since the ‌App Store‌ is the only official source for apps on its mobile devices.

Apple has been involved in a number of ‌‌App Store‌‌ controversies in recent months, from the Hey email app rejection to its battle with Epic Games. Regulators have also been taking a look at Apple's policies regarding ‌‌App Store‌‌ commissions and exclusive control over app distribution.

Apple is already facing ‌App Store‌ scrutiny in Russia since the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) concluded that Apple abused its dominant ‌‌App Store‌‌ position and limited competition in the iOS app market by banning parental control apps. Apple said at the time that it would appeal the decision.

After teasing its fullscreen display-enabling technology for a while, Chinese mobile maker ZTE has officially launched the first commercial phone featuring an under-screen front-facing camera.

The Axon 20 5G eschews a hole punch or notch solution for its 32-megapixel selfie camera, and instead hides it underneath its 6.9-inch 90Hz OLED display, which is surrounded by minimal bezels on all four sides.

According to ZTE, the area around the camera looks just as bright and vivid as the rest of the screen. The company says it has achieved this using a high transparency material that features organic and inorganic films.

Putting a camera under the screen makes it harder to match the quality of an unobstructed smartphone camera, so to compensate ZTE has developed software algorithms that address haze, glare, and color cast issues in photos.

The company also referred to "color synchronization" between the camera and the display, which sounds as if it captures images between the screen's PWM flicker. (PWM flicker is a way of controlling screen brightness by adding some breaks without light emittance.)

The phone also features an under-display fingerprint sensor and an under-screen speaker system. Elsewhere, on the rear, there's a 64-megapixel camera backed by an 8-megapixel ultrawide lens with 2-megapixel depth and macro sensors.

The Axon 20 5G will be available to order in China from September 10 at a cost of about $320, but it's unclear if it will become available internationally.

This isn't the first time we've seen a Chinese company unveil a solution to the ubiquitous smartphone display notch. Oppo teased its own under-screen camera prototype way back in June 2019, but the technology has yet to appear in a consumer Oppo phone.

Apple is thought to be working towards a notchless iPhone design. The notch has been a controversial design decision since it debuted on the ‌‌iPhone‌‌ X in 2017, and it has always felt like a stopgap on the way to an ‌‌iPhone‌‌ with a truly edge-to-edge display, but when that will appear remains unknown.

Apple's 2020 ‌iPhone‌ lineup is widely expected to include an enhanced triple rear camera system, with at least one high-end model featuring an additional LiDAR camera for 3D mapping. The display notch, which houses Apple's TrueDepth camera and Face ID tech, will almost certainly remain, although there have been conflicting rumors regarding whether the notch will be smaller or the same size as on previous models.

Apple's iPhone 11 was the most-shipped smartphone in the first half this year and has been the single most popular handset of 2020, according to new research by Omdia.

Apple shipped an estimated 37.7 million ‌iPhone‌ 11 units this year, which is 10.8 million more units than last year's top-selling model, the ‌iPhone‌ XR.

A key driver of the success of the ‌iPhone‌ 11 was adjudged to be the lower starting price, which is $50 cheaper than the ‌iPhone‌ XR yet adds significant hardware improvements. The report notes that due to these improvements, ‌iPhone‌ sales have remained strong in 2020, despite the global health crisis.

The second most popular handset of 2020 has been Samsung's Galaxy A51 (11.4 million units shipped), followed by Xiaomi's Redmi Note 8 (11 million units) and Redmi Note 8 Pro (10.2 million units).

Several other ‌iPhone‌ models also make the top 10 ranking, including the 2020 ‌iPhone‌ SE in fifth place (8.7 million units shipped), followed by the ‌iPhone‌ XR (8 million units) and iPhone 11 Pro Max (7.7 million unity). The ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro ranked tenth (6.7 million units).

Shipments of the ‌iPhone 11 Pro Max‌ and ‌iPhone‌ 11 Pro models decreased compared to the previous ‌iPhone‌ Xs Max and Xs, but their rankings improved, according to Omdia.

According Omdia’s smartphone market tracker report, Apple shipped 13% more iPhones in the second quarter this year compare to the previous year thanks to the success of the iPhone 11 and the newly released iPhone SE.

Last year's list featured four Samsung models, whereas this year's featured just one mid-tier model. None of Samsung's flagship devices made the top 10, and were instead replaced by Xiaomi's Redmi's line of devices, doubling the number of Xiaomi models compared to 2019.

Bloomberg yesterday shared several details about new Apple products that are expected later this year, including four new ‌iPhone‌ 12 models with OLED displays, flat-edged designs, and 5G support.

Rumors suggest there will be two sizes of the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro, including one with a 6.1-inch display and another with a 6.7-inch display. The devices are expected to be introduced in October.

MacRumors has learned that Apple later this month will add the seventh-generation iPod nano to its list of Vintage and Obsolete products, officially marking the final iPod in the iconic nano lineup as "vintage."

The vintage products list features devices that have not been sold for more than five and less than seven years ago. After products pass the seven year mark, they are considered obsolete. Apple debuted a refreshed version of the seventh-generation iPod nano in mid-2015, and that was the final iPod nano that came out. Now that the device is five years old, it is being added to the vintage list.

Apple launched the first iPod nano in September 2005, and over the course of the nano's lifetime, it got several redesigns. The first iPod nano model was similar in design to a standard iPod but with a slimmer, easier to pocket shape.

The second-generation version cut down on the size and introduced bright aluminum colors, but it offered a similar design as the first iPod nano model.

The third-generation iPod nano was popularly known as the "nano fatty" for its squat, wide design, and it was the first significant design iteration that Apple made to the nano lineup.

With the fourth-generation iPod nano, Apple again cut down on the size and abandoned the wide design from the third-generation models, and the fifth-generation looked largely the same.

Another major design change came with the 6th-generation iPod nano in 2010, with Apple doing away with the iconic click wheel in favor of an all-screen design that looked a lot like the Apple Watch does today.

The seventh-generation iPod nano, which ended up being the final model that was introduced, came out in October 2012 with an iPod touch-style multi-touch display and a Home button, and the nano and touch product lines were ultimately so similar that Apple did away with the iPod nano.

Apple refreshed the seventh-generation iPod nano in 2015 to add new colors, but did not tweak the design, signaling the impending end of life for the device. The iPod nano was discontinued along with the iPod shuffle in mid-2017, leaving the iPod touch as the sole iPod that Apple sells.

While devices on the vintage list are able to receive hardware service from Apple and Apple service providers, it is subject to the availability of repair components and where required by law. Obsolete products have no hardware service available with no exceptions.

Apple is planning to officially add the seventh-generation iPod nano to the Vintage and Obsolete list on September 30, along with the 5th-generation iPod touch, originally released on October 11, 2012.

Today marks the 10th anniversary of Apple launching its ill-fated social network Ping, which allowed users to follow their favorite music artists and friends within iTunes and discover what songs and albums they were listening to.

Here is how Apple described Ping in a September 2010 press release:

Ping lets you follow your favorite artists such as Lady Gaga, Coldplay, U2, Jack Johnson, Yo-Yo Ma and more, to see what they're up to, check out photos and videos they've posted, see their tour dates and read comments about other artists and albums they're listening to. In addition, you can post your thoughts and opinions, your favorite albums and songs, the music you've downloaded from iTunes and the concerts you plan to attend.

Despite a promising start, with more than one million users joining Ping in less than 48 hours after its launch, the service never truly caught on. Ping was officially shut down on September 30, 2012, with Apple CEO Tim Cook noting that "the customer voted and said 'this isn't something that I want to put a lot of energy into'."

Apple launched a similar social platform for artists called Apple Music Connect in 2015, but it suffered the same fate as Ping, shutting down in late 2018.

Apple today began informing developers of upcoming App Store pricing changes in several countries due to tax changes, with the prices of apps and in-app purchases affected.

Prices are shifting in Chile, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.

• Chile: New value-added tax of 19%
• Mexico: New value-added tax of 16%
• Saudi Arabia: Increase in value-added tax from 5% to 15%
• Turkey: New digital services tax of 7.5% (in addition to the existing value-added tax of 18%)

According to Apple, developers will see their proceeds from ‌App Store‌ sales adjusted accordingly, with revenue calculated based on the tax-exclusive price.

‌App Store‌ proceeds will also be adjusted in Germany, France, Italy, and the UK due to tax changes, though ‌App Store‌ pricing will not be shifting.

• Germany: Reduced value-added tax rate from 19% to 16%
• France: New digital services tax of 3% (in addition to the existing value-added tax of 22%)
• Italy: New digital services tax of 3% (in addition to the existing value-added tax of 22%)
• United Kingdom: New digital services tax of 2% (in addition to the existing value-added tax of 20%)

Developers are able to download updated pricing charts from Apple's developer site to prepare for the upcoming changes. Developers are able to change the prices of apps, subscriptions, and in-app purchases, and can opt to preserve pricing for existing subscribers if desired. Apple says the price changes will go live "in the next few days."

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News 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.

Apple today released iOS 13.7, a major update that comes more than a month after the release of iOS 13.6. iOS 13.7 is an update that's being introduced to roll out a new Exposure Notifications System that does not require an app to be downloaded for the feature to be turned on.

The iOS 13.7 updates are available on all eligible devices over-the-air in the Settings app. To access the updates, go to Settings > General > Software Update. Apple has also released a new version of iPadOS 13.7, but as Exposure Notifications don't work on the iPad, the ‌iPad‌ update focuses on bug fixes.

With iOS 13.7, Apple is adding Exposure Notifications Express, a feature that lets public health authorities that choose to participate provide an Exposure Notification system without having to do the work to develop an app.

After updating, iOS 13.7 users will see a new ‌Exposure Notification‌ section in the Settings app (it used to be in the Privacy settings) where there's a toggle to "Turn on Exposure Notifications."

Activating Exposure Notifications lets you know if the feature is available in your country, state, or region through a contact tracing app. In areas that are participating in the Exposure Notifications Express program, users will be able to turn on Exposure Notifications without the need to download an app.

Apple this morning said that Maryland, Nevada, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. will soon be adopting Exposure Notifications Express, and more U.S. states could follow in the future. Using Exposure Notifications Express will require iOS 13.7, and even though it works without an app in some areas, it is still entirely opt-in.

In areas that do not participate in Exposure Notifications Express, attempting to toggle on Exposure Notifications will direct users to an app created by a public health authority in their state if one is available, or it will let them know that Exposure Notifications are not yet available in their area.

iOS 13.7 is likely to be one of the final updates to the iOS 13 operating system as Apple shifts its focus to iOS 14. We could see iOS 14 released in the coming weeks if the update is decoupled from new iPhones, or in October when the new iPhones are expected to debut.