MacRumors

Apple last night unwittingly confirmed the existence of Samsung's upcoming next-generation Galaxy Buds+, which are set to compete directly with Apple's own AirPods Pro wireless earphones.

Confirmation came via an App Store preview of the wireless earphones' iOS app, first spotted by CNET, indicating that the Galaxy Buds+ will be officially compatible with iPhone 7 and newer devices running iOS 10 or higher.

Other than that, the app description reveals little else about Samsung's new earbuds. However, serial gadget leaker Evan Blass has subsequently shared an official-looking spec sheet of the upcoming Galaxy Buds+ compared to the current Galaxy Buds.

According to the spec sheet, the Galaxy Buds+ will have almost double the battery life of their predecessor, with 11 hours for the buds themselves plus an additional 11 hours from the charging case, compared with six hours for the standard Galaxy Buds and 7 hours for its charging case.

Unlike Apple's ‌AirPods Pro‌, the Galaxy Buds+ don't have active noise cancellation, but the design remains the same as the current Galaxy Buds, so there is some passive sound isolation. Otherwise, the new earbuds have upgraded speakers and an additional microphone, so expect improved audio.

The Galaxy Buds+ will cost $149, up from $129, and will be available in black, white, red, and blue colors. Speculation suggests that Samsung may also include the earbuds in the box with the upcoming Galaxy S20, but this hasn't been confirmed.

After CNET highlighted the existence of Apple's App Store preview, a Samsung spokesperson told the website that the company is "excited to introduce Galaxy Buds+ soon." Samsung noted that its app "will allow iOS users to enjoy an optimized sound experience, on the go."

Samsung will hold its Unpacked event on February 11 in San Francisco, where it's expected to introduce its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S20, along with a new folding phone called the Galaxy Z Flip.

Apple has reportedly been experiencing "much higher" than expected demand for its $249 ‌AirPods Pro‌, and the company is said to have ask its supplier Luxshare Precision to double production of the high-end earphones to two million units per month.

Together with the Apple Watch, the AirPods and ‌AirPods Pro‌ have been a driving force behind growth in Apple's wearables category, which recently set new fourth quarter revenue records worldwide.

Apple's Pro Display XDR, priced at $4,999 without a stand, is designed for professionals who need a reference monitor. It may seem expensive, but comparative to other reference monitors, it's an affordable choice.

PCMag this week published its full review of the Pro Display XDR, doing a deep dive into its color accuracy and HDR capabilities.

The Pro Display XDR is meant to be used by creative professionals such as photographers and videographers, which means factors like color accuracy, gamut coverage, and sustained brightness are important.

In Adobe RGB color gamut testing, relevant for content creation tasks, the Pro Display XDR had what PCMag says is an "excellent" result of 96.7 percent coverage. Comparatively, the Pro Display XDR beat out the Acer Predator X35, the ASUS Rog Strix XG438Q, the Dell U3219Q 4K, and the Razer Raptor 27, which are other displays PCMag has tested, but that's not a surprising result as these comparison displays are more affordable gaming-focused monitors.

The Pro Display XDR didn't fare quite as well in sRGB gamut testing, where monitors normally get close to 100 percent coverage, but it still hit a respectable 94.3 coverage. sRGB is not a focus of the pro community, which makes this result fairly inconsequential.

In a DCI-P3 color gamut test, which highlights how well a monitor is able to display movie and tv content in editing apps, the Pro Display XDR saw 98.7 percent coverage, beating out all other monitors including the Alienware 55, which scored the second-highest in PCMag's testing at 96.5 percent.

When it comes to brightness testing, with a DisplayHDR 1600 test, the XDR was able to display content at a peak burst of 1,561 nits, just under Apple's 1,600-nit rating. SDR brightness reached 499 nits, and the black levels were super low, at 0.04. PCMag says that's the lowest it has seen outside of OLED displays.

In color accuracy tests, the Pro Display XDR also excelled. Color accuracy is measured using delta E (dE) and a lower number is better, representing an accurate representation of the color it's aiming to produce. Monitors under 1.0 are "top tier" monitors, but the Pro Display XDR scored below that.

More records broken. In the industry of content creation, any monitor that scores below a 1.0 dE is considered top-tier, but the Pro Display XDR isn't content with just winning here, it has to command the lead. In these tests, which I ran through all three color-space presets we tested above (sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3), the lowest score achieved was just 0.68 dE--and that, achieved with no calibration required.

There were some downsides to the Pro Display XDR. There's no option for changing color capabilities on the monitor itself, and using it requires macOS, so there's no way to use it without a Mac. There's also no way to calibrate the colors, but Apple says that calibration options are coming sometime in the future.

The site was impressed with the add-on $999 stand for the Mac Pro given its nice, shiny look and its smooth counter-balanced arm, but ultimately felt that it was a bit over-engineered and overpriced, saying that it "didn't need to be" so far ahead of a typical (and much less expensive) monitor stand.

In a nutshell, PCMag believes that the Pro Display XDR successfully does what it was meant to do, offer up "reference-quality production capabilities" to those who work on Macs. "The Pro Display XDR is a beautifully made, well-designed, hyper-accurate content creation monitor that--say it with me now--'just works,'" reads the review.

For those considering a purchase of the Pro Display XDR, PCMag's full review is well worth checking out.

The United States Department of Justice is continuing with its antitrust investigation into Apple and has recently reached out to developers who create apps for Apple's iOS devices, reports Reuters.

Suren Ramasubbu, CEO of app development company Mobicip, was interviewed by a U.S. investigator in November and questioned about Mobicip's interactions with Apple. Mobicip makes parental control software that parents can use to monitor and control what their children are doing online, similar to Screen Time.

The app was temporarily removed last year for a failure to meet App Store requirements put in place by Apple, which is why its CEO was contacted. A "handful" of developers are said to have been in touch with the Justice Department.

Apple declined to comment on the news of the interview with Mobicip's CEO, but highlighted a statement on its website that says that Apple expects apps to adhere to a "high standard for privacy, security, and content."

Apple, along with Facebook, Google, and Amazon, is facing a government query into whether the way it operates stifles competition. Launched in July, the probe is examining information from industry participants to determine whether there are antitrust problems that need to be addressed, but when it kicked off, it had no specific aim.

Apple has been accused of anticompetitive business practices when it comes to the ‌App Store‌, as some developers and companies believe that Apple's own apps, features, and services have a significant advantage over third-party apps. Investigating claims from third-party companies who operate on the ‌App Store‌ appears to be the first part of the Department of Justice's investigation into Apple.

Screen Time, which was introduced in 2018 with iOS 12, has led to disputes with developers who make similar software. Screen Time offers parents built-in controls for limiting access to apps and monitoring app usage, a set of options previously handled by third-party apps.

When Screen Time came out, Ramasubbu was told by Apple that the Mobicip app violated ‌App Store‌ rules with features that had been allowed in the past. The app was eliminated from the ‌App Store‌ for approximately six months and has been available since October 2019, but Ramasubbu believes his business has shrunk in half.

According to Reuters, six other executives from companies that create parental control apps had a "comfortable" relationship with Apple until mid-2018 when Screen Time came out.

Apple said that it was cracking down on parental control apps because they were using Mobile Device Management (MDM) technology for device monitoring, which is not what MDM was designed for.

Multiple parental control app developers petitioned Apple to release a Screen Time API that would allow them to match the functionality provided by Screen Time, ultimately leading to Apple allowing parental control apps to once again use Mobile Device Management technology.

Apple has faced other accusations over its ‌App Store‌ apps, including complaints from Spotify that Apple Music has a distinct advantage because Spotify has to pay Apple a portion of its subscription fees. Spotify's complaints have led to an investigation of Apple's ‌App Store‌ policies by the European Commission.

Apple is also facing a lawsuit over its anticompetitive ‌App Store‌ business policies related to ‌App Store‌ fees taken for subscriptions, which has been allowed to proceed by the Supreme Court.

It's not clear how the Department of Justice's antitrust investigation will go, but it's clear the government is looking into Apple's ‌App Store‌ practices. Apple in September was asked to provide the U.S. House Judiciary Committee with details related to its policies for the ‌App Store‌, with a specific focus on parental control apps, search rankings, in-app purchase revenue split, in-app links to non-Apple payment systems, and more.

Note: Due to the political 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 this week has been granted a patent for a foldable device with a unique hinge mechanism that utilizes movable flaps to help prevent the display from being creased or damaged when folded.

Published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today, the patent explains that the hinge mechanism would ensure adequate separation between the first and second portions of the display. When the device is unfolded, movable flaps would extend to cover the gap, and then retract when the device is folded.

Early foldable smartphones like Samsung's Galaxy Fold and Huawei's Mate X have noticeable creases along the bending portion of the display. Motorola's new foldable Razr avoids this issue with a unique hinge design, but early reviews indicate the device makes creaking sounds when opened or closed.

All in all, it is still early days for foldable smartphones, with lots of room for innovation. Apple has certainly shown an interest in the category with several patents for foldable devices and mechanisms over the past few years, but it remains to be seen if the company ever releases a foldable iPhone or iPad.

Apple suppliers in China including Foxconn plan to resume full-scale production by February 10, despite the coronavirus outbreak in the country, reports Bloomberg.

Foxconn's Hon Hai, the most important manufacturer for the U.S. company, said Tuesday it still expects to be able to restart facilities throughout China on schedule, according to a text message sent to Bloomberg News. Suppliers such as Quanta Computer Inc., Inventec Corp. and LG Display Co. also said they would go back to work next week in China.

The vast majority of Apple's iPhones are made in China, at Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant and at Pegatron's assembly site near Shanghai. Both locations are more than 500 kilometers away from Wuhan in central China, the epicenter of the viral outbreak.

Despite being ordered to halt "almost all" of its production in China through February 9, Foxconn recently claimed the viral outbreak has had a "fairly small impact" on iPhone production. Foxconn has factories in other countries such as Vietnam, India, and Mexico that have apparently been able to fill the gap.

Apple last week announced that it has closed all of its corporate offices, stores, and contact centers in mainland China through February 9 due to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, out of an abundance of caution. Apple has around 10,000 direct employees in China, across its retail and corporate divisions.

The timing of the coronavirus outbreak could impact supply of the new lower-cost iPhone that Apple is expected to announce in March. Bloomberg recently reported that production of the device was slated to begin in February, but the coronavirus outbreak could delay that timeframe.

More than 20,000 people have been infected with the virus and more than 400 have died. Last week, the World Health Organization declared the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak a global public health emergency. More information about the virus and how to protect yourself is available on the agency's website.

Apple increased its worldwide tablet market share by 6.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019, thanks to strong demand for its new 10.2-inch iPad, according to the latest data compiled by research firm IDC.

Apple's seventh-generation ‌iPad‌, introduced in September 2019 as an affordable entry-level tablet for consumers and educational institutions, accounted for 65 percent of 15.9 million total ‌iPad‌ shipments during the three months ending in December, according to IDC.

Performance of the 10.2-inch ‌iPad‌ helped the company increase global tablet market share in the holiday quarter to 36.5 percent, up from 29.6 percent in the year ago quarter. Apple's year-over-year tablet growth was up 22.7 percent from 12.9 million shipments in Q4 2018.

IDC's full-year statistics tell a similar story, with Apple taking 34.6 percent of the 2019 tablet market on shipments of 49.9 million iPads, up 15.2 percent from 29.6 percent on 43.3 million units shipped in 2018.

Apple's growth came despite a period in which the worldwide tablet market declined 0.6 percent year over year during the fourth quarter of 2019, as global shipments fell to 43.5 million units. For the full year, the tablet market shrank 1.5 percent year over year as global shipments totaled 144 million units, according to IDC.

Samsung regained the second position behind Apple, despite another year-over-year decline in shipments. The company shipped 7 million units in the quarter, but even with growth across its detachable portfolio, the company couldn't offset the decline from its slate tablets.

Huawei and Amazon came third and fourth, shipping 4 million and 3.3 million units, respectively. Huawei saw a 2.8 percent decrease in growth year over year, while Amazon slumped by 29 percent over the same period. However, Amazon was the only other brand apart from Apple to see growth for the whole year (9.9 percent).

Lenovo was the other brand in the top 5 that recorded year-over-year growth in holiday quarter shipments. Its share slightly increased from 5.3 percent in 4Q18 to 5.8 percent in 4Q19. Lenovo's growth declined by 4.2 percent for the year.

Respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the next iPad Pro update will come during the first half of 2020. Apple is said to be planning to release a next-generation model with upgraded Face ID and a rear-facing time-of-flight (ToF) camera system that would allow for 3D models to be captured using the ‌iPad Pro‌ and then edited with the Apple Pencil for an "all-new productivity experience."

LG today announced that the Apple TV app and accompanying ‌Apple TV‌+ streaming service are now available on select 2019 LG TVs in the United States and more than 80 other countries.

The addition of the ‌Apple TV‌ app to LG's 2019 TV lineup follows the CES debut of new 2020 models that come with the ‌Apple TV‌ app pre-installed.

LG TV owners can access the ‌Apple TV‌ app from the LG Home app Launcher, and along with ‌Apple TV‌+, LG users can also subscribe to Apple channels and access their iTunes libraries to rent, purchase, and watch TV shows and movies.

The TVs that support the ‌Apple TV‌ app are also compatible with AirPlay 2, allowing users to share or mirror content from the iPhone, iPad, or Mac directly to an LG TV.

TV models that feature the ‌Apple TV‌ app as of today include the 2019 LED TVs and NanoCell TVs (series SM9X and SM8X). LG says that later in the month, the ‌Apple TV‌ app will also roll out on select UHD UM7X and UM6X models. The app will be available on 2020 models at launch.

In the future, LG also plans to bring the ‌Apple TV‌ app to 2018 models, but that won't be happening until later this year.