MacRumors

Apple is slated to release a number of new products this year, and the first round of products could be just a few weeks away. YouTuber Jon Prosser, who has a mixed track record when it comes to reporting on Apple's plans, claims that AirTags and brand new iPad Pro models are set to be announced next month, presumably via a virtual event.

Prosser, who runs the tech-news show "Front Page Tech," tweeted earlier today that AirTags are "still on for March" and that he hasn't "heard of any further delays this time." This is not the first occasion the online personality has claimed to have information on AirTags, however. In October, Prosser stated that AirTags were "for sure" coming at the November event, but that did not materialize and the event was fully focused on Apple Silicon Macs. The YouTuber also claimed that AirTags would be released alongside iOS and iPadOS 14.3, which also did not happen.

Prosser has previously claimed March 2021 as a release month for AirTags, but it's worth noting that Apple typically doesn't hold events any earlier than March, so his claim seems to be an educated guess. Lastly, Prosser once stated that AirTags were "likely" to be released at Apple's 2020 September event, and that too did not come to fruition.

In a follow-up tweet today, Prosser reiterated his past claim that updated iPad Pro models will be announced in March of this year. New iPad Pros have been rumored to launch for some time and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has said to expect a release in the first half of 2021, lining up with Prosser's March timeline. Once again, it's worth noting Prosser did previously claim new iPads would be released by the end of 2020, which did not occur.

Nonetheless, the YouTuber has been the source of accurate Apple information in the past, including accurately reporting the exact date and time for the launch of the second-generation iPhone SE in April and updated 13-inch MacBook Pro in May, and he correctly reported the release of an updated iMac in August minutes before it became official.

The most credible information thus far regarding the launch of AirTags comes from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who stated last month that AirTags are on track for a 2021 release, although the analyst stopped short of providing a more specific timeframe.

Leaker L0vetodream, who boasts a trustworthy track record, has cryptically hinted that AirTags could come in small and large sizes. AirTags are rumored to include replaceable batteries and work directly within the Find My app on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with CalDigit to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a USB-C HDMI Dock that's compatible with Apple's USB-C Macs and iPads.

Unlike most Thunderbolt docks on the market, CalDigit's USB-C HDMI Dock provides up to 94W for charging a MacBook, which means that it has enough power to facilitate charging even the 16-inch MacBook Pro at full speeds. Most other docks top out at 87W.

Priced at $219.99, the USB-C HDMI Dock offers a total of 10 ports, including a Thunderbolt 3 port, two HDMI 2.0b ports, one 10Gb/s USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, three USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports that support transfer speeds up to 5Gb/s, an SD Card Reader, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and an Audio In/Out Combo Jack.

CalDigit's USB-C HDMI Dock is compatible with all Thunderbolt and USB-C laptops, so it will work with all of Apple's modern computers. It is also compatible with the USB-C iPad Pro models and the fourth-generation iPad Air, which is equipped with USB-C.

As a universal dock option, when paired with a Thunderbolt 3 laptop, the HDMI USB-C Dock offers a full 40Gb/s performance, and when connected to a USB-C laptop, it offers 10Gb/s performance. It is also compatible with machines that have Thunderbolt 4 ports.

With a Thunderbolt connection, the dock supports two 4K 60Hz displays through the HDMI 2.0 ports, while USB-C users can connect dual 2K 30Hz monitors or a single 4K 30Hz monitor. M1 Mac users can connect a single external monitor up to 4K 60Hz.

The HDMI USB-C Dock offers a few other bells and whistles. With CalDigit's software, all external drives connected to the dock can be ejected with a click, and it supports standalone charging so you can charge accessories like the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch at up to 7.5W with no laptop connected.

We have five of the HDMI USB-C Docks to give away to MacRumors readers. To enter to win our giveaway, use the Gleam.io widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winners and send the prizes. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, following us on Instagram, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.

The contest will run from today (February 12) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on February 19. The winners will be chosen randomly on February 19 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.

Apple today announced a few new features for its Developer Forums, including enhanced search and the ability to receive email notifications for thread replies.

The full text of the announcement:

The Apple Developer Forums are a great place to connect with fellow developers and Apple engineers as you give and receive help on development topics. And now, it's easier to find and keep track of content you're interested in. Take advantage of enhanced search and a new feature that monitors threads for you and sends you an email each time there's a reply.

A list of supported search queries and more details can be found on Apple's website.

Apple's Developer Forums are a place for those who develop apps for Apple software platforms to ask questions and share comments on a variety of development topics with fellow developers and Apple engineers working for the company.

U.S. chipmaker and Apple supplier Qualcomm has told regulators around the world that it opposes Nvidia's $40 billion proposed acquisition of Arm, according to CNBC.

Qualcomm has registered an objection to Nvidia's acquisition of Arm with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the European Commission, the UK Competition and Markets Authority, and China's State Administration for Market Regulation. Qualcomm believes that the acquisition risks Nvidia acting as a gatekeeper for Arm's technology, and could prevent other chipmakers from using it. Most importantly, Qualcomm is building a case to suggest that the only way Nvidia can make the acquisition profitable will be to gatekeep Arm's technology.

British chip architect Arm is currently owned by Japanese tech giant SoftBank and licenses its chip designs to over 500 companies, including Apple. With Arm's architecture being used in 95 percent of the world's smartphones, there has been significant concern around Nvidia, which is a rival to Arm licensees such as AMD and Apple, acquiring the company.

Arm's architecture underpins all of Apple's custom silicon processors such as the A14 in the iPhone 12 or the M1 in the MacBook Pro, since Apple licenses the Arm instruction set. While Apple does not license entire core designs from Arm and still designs its own custom silicon, if the deal is permitted, Nvidia will become responsible for the vital instruction set behind Apple's own chips.

Nvidia says that the deal will create the world's "premier computing company for the age of AI," and has pledged to keep the company headquartered in Cambridge, England.

The FTC has now reportedly moved into the "second phase" of its investigations, asking SoftBank, Nvidia, and Arm itself to provide more information about the acquisition. This phase is also expected to involve discussion with other companies with relevant information, such as Qualcomm. Since a number of large documents will now need to be produced, the investigation is expected to continue for several more months.

Qualcomm is said to believe that it will play a significant role in whether the deal is allowed to continue, having spoken to antitrust representatives and legal counsel. Nvidia told CNBC that it is confident regulators will see the benefits of the acquisition, yet five senior industry sources said that the deal has "a very high chance of being blocked" by regulators.

At the end of the day, whether this deal is anti-competitive or not, is based on a very simple idea: Arm is an enabler of competition. It enables companies to go out and compete. Whether you are MediaTek, Amazon Web Services, Qualcomm, or NXP. Any company — regardless of your R&D (research and development) budget — can take and license from Arm and build their own Arm-based CPU. That is a unique model.

SoftBank reportedly approached Apple to see if it was interested in the purchase of Arm last year, but Apple was believed to have rejected the opportunity in part due to these regulatory concerns.

In addition to Qualcomm, AI chip start-up company Graphcore has raised concerns with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority, saying that the deal is anti-competitive, while in China, Huawei is similarly calling for the deal to be blocked.

Apple today added a new "Turn off Activation Lock" page to its website that provides steps users can take to turn off the security feature on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

As noted on Reddit, the page includes a link to start an Activation Lock support request in the United States, meaning that customers no longer have to contact an Apple support representative by phone, email, or online chat to initiate this process. To submit a request for Activation Lock support, you must be the owner of the device, and the device must not be in Lost Mode or managed by a business or educational institution.

After entering a valid email address and the device's serial number, customers are instructed to fill out a form to prove ownership of the device, providing details such as the device's original purchase date, purchase location, and a photo or screenshot of the original sales receipt if available. Any information provided will be used by Apple or an Apple-affiliated company to process the Activation Lock request.

Upon submitting this information, Apple will review the request and provide updates by email. A support case number is generated for reference.

In the event that Apple unlocks Activation Lock on your device, all data stored on your device will be permanently erased. Apple says it is the customer's responsibility to back up their device prior to submitting an Activation Lock request.

Activation Lock is designed to prevent anyone else from using your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch if it's ever lost or stolen. When you mark the device as lost on the iCloud website, this locks the device's screen with a passcode and lets you display a custom message with your phone number to help you get it back. And if the device is erased, Activation Lock requires the original owner's Apple ID and password to be entered.

BitPay, which calls itself the world's largest provider of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payment services, today announced that its BitPay Prepaid Mastercard is now compatible with Apple Pay for purchases in stores, in apps, and online. BitPay says support for Google Pay and Samsung Pay is planned by the end of the first quarter.

U.S. cardholders can add the physical or virtual versions of the BitPay Prepaid Mastercard to Apple's Wallet app and start using it immediately.

With the BitPay Prepaid Mastercard, customers can instantly convert cryptocurrency into fiat currency, which is then loaded onto the card and can be spent anywhere Mastercard debit is accepted around the world. Customers can also use the card online for purchases and to withdraw cash from ATMs, according to BitPay.

To add the card to Apple's Wallet app, cardholders need to have the most recent version of the BitPay app, 12.1.0, which should be rolling out on the App Store today.

Consumer spending on the top 100 non-game subscription-based apps across mobile platforms grew 34% year-on-year from $9.7 billion in 2019 to $13 billion in 2020, according to a new report by analytics firm Sensor Tower.

According to the data, revenue from subscription apps purchased on the App Store and the Google Play Store represented around 11.7% of the $111 billion that consumers spent on in-app purchases last year, the same share as in 2019. In the fourth quarter of 2020, however, 86 of the top 100 earning non-game apps worldwide offered subscriptions, which is actually down slightly from 89 in the same quarter of 2019.

Reflecting a wider historical trend, spending on subscription-based apps in Apple's ‌App Store‌ was vastly more than in the Google Play Store:

Consumers have historically spent more on the App Store than on Google's marketplace, and the same holds true for subscription apps. Globally, the top 100 subscription apps on the App Store generated $10.3 billion in 2020, up 32 percent from $7.8 billion the previous year. The cohort of 100 top earners on Google Play saw $2.7 billion last year, up 42 percent Y/Y from $1.9 billion in 2019.

The only performance indicator in which the Google Play Store beat the ‌App Store‌ was in terms of year-on-year growth for U.S. user spending on subscription apps.

Looking at the U.S. App Store, consumers spent $4.5 billion in 2020 on the top 100 earning non-game apps offering subscriptions, up 25 percent from approximately $3.6 billion in 2019. While the top 100 earning subscription apps on Google Play did not generate as much revenue, they did see greater Y/Y growth. In 2020, the top Google Play subscription apps in the U.S. saw $1.4 billion spent, up 40 percent Y/Y from $1 billion.

Google was the big winner this year in terms of subscription app spending, both globally and in the U.S. YouTube was the subscription app leader across both stores, earning $991.7 million in gross revenue globally and $562 million in the U.S. It was also the top earning subscription app on the ‌App Store‌.

Despite the numbers, the subscription apps generally divide ‌App Store‌ users between those for and against the revenue model. Apple began incentivizing developers to sell their apps for a recurring fee instead of a one-time cost when it made changes to its ‌‌App Store‌‌ subscription policies in 2016. Usually, Apple takes 30 percent of app revenue, but developers who are able to maintain a subscription with a customer longer than a year see Apple's cut drop down to 15 percent.

In late 2017, Apple began letting developers offer discounted introductory pricing and time-limited free trials on auto-renewable app subscriptions, based on the idea that subscriptions provide a higher likelihood of an engaged audience.

More than 100 million people globally now own an Apple Watch, an adoption milestone Apple surpassed this December, according to estimated figures compiled by Avalon's Neil Cybart.

Apple launched its smartwatch in April 2015. Since that time, Cybart's analysis suggests the growth trajectory of the device's user base has been neither constant nor steady, with the 30 million new people that began wearing an Apple Watch in 2020 nearly exceeding the adoption rate of users throughout 2015-2017.

Cybart also looked at Apple Watch as a percentage of the iPhone user base, which he considered a good proxy for the size of the potential Apple Watch market, given that an iPhone is required to use the watch (with a few exceptions, such as Family Setup). Based on his data, Cybart believes that around 10% of iPhone users worldwide wore an Apple Watch by the end of 2020.

Cybart also looked at U.S. adoption of Apple Watch specifically:

Since the U.S. has been an Apple Watch stronghold for years, adoption in the country has trended materially high in comparison to global figures. At the end of 2020, approximately 35% of iPhone users in the U.S. were wearing an Apple Watch. This is a shockingly strong adoption rate that should serve as a wake-up call to Apple competitors interested in the wearables space. Apple Watch turned Fitbit from a household name as the wearables industry leader into a company that will eventually be viewed as an asterisk when the wearables story is retold to future generations.

Overall, Cybart believes the figures show that Apple Watch is Apple's fourth-largest installed base behind the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and at the current sales trajectory will surpass the Mac installed base in 2022.

Looking further ahead, Cybart believes there is "nothing stopping much higher adoption over time," and predicts that if just 35% of iPhone users around the world one day wear an Apple Watch – the same adoption percentage found in the U.S. – the Apple Watch installed base would exceed 350 million people, which is two and a half times higher than the current user base.

Cybart suggests that Apple Watch could make even more headway if Apple opened it up to non-iPhone users, and suggests that the device's future roles in Apple's product line could include: Expanded identity authentication uses beyond Macs, and most recently, iPhones; advances in health monitoring; and as an ideal location on the body to offload resources linked to face-based technologies like smart glasses.

Apple has never disclosed official sales figures for Apple Watch, and instead lumps the device into its Wearables, Home, and Accessories category (previously known as the "Other" category), which also includes HomePod mini, and all of the AirPods models, including the AirPods Max.

However, based on Apple's last earning's report, the category brought in record revenue in the first fiscal quarter of 2021 (fourth calendar quarter), hitting $13 billion, up from $10 billion in the year-ago quarter, reflecting 30% growth.

With the launch of the M1 Macs last November, Apple officially began its transition away from Intel's chips, and it's clear from Intel's latest advertising campaign that the company is feeling threatened by Apple's decision.

In ads shared on Twitter, Intel has been highlighting the shortcomings of Apple's ‌M1‌ Mac lineup. An ad this week, for example, points out the gaming capabilities of Intel chips. Intel mentions Rocket League, a game that is not available on Apple's platform.

An ad from last week highlighted by 9to5Mac points out the lack of a touchscreen on Apple's Macs. "Only a PC offers tablet mode, touch screen and stylus capabilities in a single device," reads Intel's tweet.

Intel's tweets link to a video from YouTuber Jon Rettinger demoing laptops equipped with Intel chips and comparing them to the ‌M1‌ Macs.

Apple's ‌M1‌ chips received a lot of attention at launch due to their impressive speed and power efficiency, which is not matched by Intel chips. Earlier this week, Intel launched a series of "carefully crafted" benchmarks designed to prove that Intel's 11th-generation processors are better than the ‌M1‌ chips, but the benchmarks were designed to favor Intel machines and were described by Apple columnist Jason Snell as "M1-unfriendly."

Intel's anti-Apple advertising is likely just getting started, as Apple plans to be largely free of Intel chips within a two year period. Apple is transitioning its entire Mac lineup to Apple silicon chips, with the MacBook Pro and iMac set to be refreshed next.

PopSockets today announced the launch of a new PopSocket accessory, the PopMount 2 Photo. The PopMount 2 Photo is a stand that attaches to the back of a PopGrip installed on an iPhone, with the PopMount then able to be attached to any tripod.

Available in black, the PopMount 2 Photo is compatible with 1/4 20 tripods or tripod plates, so it is compatible with a wide range of accessories. It can also be used alone as a handheld stabilization device.

PopSockets says that the PopMount 2 Photo is compatible with all available PopGrips, and the simple design allows for mounting in either portrait or landscape mode with a PopGrip. The slim design is also ideal for travel.

PopSockets makes a range of other mounting options, including the PopMount 2 Flex and the PopMount 2 Car. The PopMount 2 Photo is available starting today and it is priced at $15.

Netflix co-founder and former CEO Marc Randolph recently spoke to Yahoo Finance, where he commented on Disney+ and Apple TV+, two Netflix competitors in the streaming market.

Randolph criticized Apple's free ‌Apple TV‌+ offerings and the number of subscribers that are still not paying. Apple has been offering free year-long ‌Apple TV‌+ subscriptions to those who purchase a new Apple device, and has already twice extended the free subscriptions of those who initially signed up in 2019.

"If Apple spent one quarter as much time on content as they do on giveaways they really could play," Randolph said. "They have no excuse [and] they're still not in it with both feet. They really have to do the entrepreneurial thing and walk up to the edge of the cliff and jump."

He went on to explain that ‌Apple TV‌+ has the "highest churn rate" out of all the available streaming services. "You can't keep replacing people," he said. "You've got to give them a reason to stay."

On Disney+, Randolph said that the streaming service has "fought its way up to a really strong position" with its continuous slate of new content. "It's really a war of who's prepared to make the content," he said. Disney+ just today announced that it has hit 95 million subscribers and could hit Netflix-like numbers in just a few years. Netflix currently has more than 200 million subscribers.

Netflix last month said that it plans to release a new original film every week in 2021, and of the streaming services, it has one of the largest content catalogs available. Disney+ was also able to launch with a huge amount of content, and Disney has regularly been introducing new Star Wars and Marvel shows, among other titles.

Apple built ‌Apple TV‌+ from the ground up and has been adding new content regularly, but the streaming service lags far behind its competitors. Apple has never announced subscriber numbers, but said at the beginning of February that it had seen record viewership with the launch of Justin Timberlake movie "Palmer."

Matthew Inman, the artist behind The Oatmeal comics and board games like Exploding Kittens and Throw, Throw Burrito, today announced the launch of a new free-to-play iOS game called Kitty Letter.

Described as a "Scrabble combined with Crash Royale" or "words with enemies," gameplay consists of unscrambling words, with the words then turning into cat armies that march forward and attack the opponent you're playing against.

Only one thing can protect you from legions of exploding cats: Vocabulary!

Kitty Letter is a head-to-head competitive word game where the best linguist wins. Unscramble words using your enchanted language vortex from the multiverse of infinite vocabularinities, collect power-ups from dysenteric deer, and stop your crazy cat-collecting neighbor from destroying your house!

There's an extensive single player game that features a story by Inman, along with the option to play 1v1 games with either friends or strangers. Gameplay is free, but there are cosmetic in-app purchases that are available.

Kitty Letter can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

During its earnings report covering the fourth quarter of 2020, Disney today announced that it has surpassed 94.9 million subscribers (via CNBC).

When Disney+ launched, Disney set a goal of hitting 60 million to 90 million subscribers by 2024, a milestone that it reached before the end of 2020. Disney has since re-forecasted and now expects to have 230 to 260 million subscribers by 2024.

With that kind of subscriber growth, Disney+ will likely surpass Netflix. Netflix in January said that it had more than 200 million subscribers worldwide.

Disney+ launched at the same time as Apple TV+, but Disney has seen incredibly rapid growth, reaching 10 million subscribers on the first day and 50 million subscribers at the five month mark. In December, Disney+ was at 86.8 million subscribers, so it has gained eight million subscribers in a month.

Apple does not provide ‌Apple TV‌+ subscriber numbers so there's no direct comparison to make, but if Apple had Disney+ numbers, Apple executives likely would have mentioned it. ‌Apple TV‌+ has not been able to compete with Disney+ because of Disney's established catalog of content along with popular Star Wars and Marvel original shows.

Apple has been ramping up its selection of movies and TV shows, but it will be years before the company has a catalog that can compete with most other streaming services.

Google is testing a new feature for its Google Chrome app for iOS, which will let Incognito tabs be locked with either Face ID or Touch ID on an iPhone or iPad.

As highlighted by 9to5Google, the latest Chrome beta will blur Incognito tabs in the Chrome app until confirmed with the iPhone's biometric authentication.

The feature can be enabled by going to Settings > Privacy > Lock Incognito tabs when you close Chrome. There's a similar option in the Google Search app that confirms identity with ‌Face ID‌ or ‌Touch ID‌ when returning to an incognito search session after 15 minutes, and there's also a privacy lock built into Google Drive.

Google has not updated the Chrome app for iOS since November as it is delaying new versions of most of its apps at the current time. It's not clear when the new feature might launch in the release version of Chrome, but Chrome 89 is expected to launch next month.

The Incognito tab locking feature is limited to beta testers at the current time, and according to 9to5Google, not all beta users are able to access the locking option as there is a server-side element involved.

The U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce this week sent a letter to Apple [PDF] inquiring about the accuracy of the App Privacy labels that Apple asked developers to start adding to apps back in December.

In the letter, the committee asks Apple about reports suggesting that some App Privacy labels are offering "misleading and false information." The query was prompted by a January story from The Washington Post that found over a dozen apps with inaccurate privacy labels.

Apple requires developers to provide information on all of the data that an app collects, but developers are self-submitting the privacy label details on an honor system, without verification from Apple itself. Apple has said that it routinely audits the information that's provided and works with developers to correct inaccuracies, but it's impossible for the company to verify every app's privacy listing.

App developers that do get audited and are found to have failed to disclose accurate privacy information can have future app updates rejected or in some situations, the apps can be removed from the App Store entirely if not brought into compliance.

Committee members Frank Pallone and Jan Schakowsky told Apple that a privacy label is "no protection if it is false," in the letter that urges Apple to improve App Privacy labels.

"According to recent reports, App Privacy labels can be highly misleading or blatantly false. Using software that logs data transmitted to trackers, a reporter discovered that approximately one third of evaluated apps that said they did not collect data had inaccurate labels. A privacy label is no protection if it is false. We urge Apple to improve the validity of its App Privacy labels to ensure consumers are provided meaningful information about their apps' data practices and that consumers are not harmed by these potentially deceptive practices."

Apple has been asked to provide the following details on its App Privacy system:

• Details on the process by which Apple audits the privacy information provided by app developers and how frequently audits are conducted;
• How many of the apps audited since the implementation of the App Privacy label were found to have provided inaccurate or misleading information;
• Whether Apple ensures that App Privacy labels are corrected upon the discovery of inaccuracies or misleading information; and
• Details regarding Apple's enforcement policies when an app fails to provide accurate privacy information for the App Privacy label.

The committee asks that Apple send the requested information by February 23, so Apple has two weeks to craft a response.

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