MacRumors

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming macOS Catalina 10.15.6 update to developers for testing purposes, three weeks releasing the second beta and over a month after releasing macOS Catalina 10.15.5 with battery health management features for Macs.

The macOS Catalina 10.15.6 beta can be downloaded from the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences after the proper profile has been installed from the Apple Developer Center.

There's no word yet on what improvements the new update to macOS Catalina brings, but it likely includes performance improvements, security updates, and fixes for bugs that weren't able to be addressed in the previous update. No new features were found in the first two betas, but we'll update this article should anything new be found in the third beta.

Apple is once again offering a 10 percent bonus when adding funds to your Apple ID account, through July 10, in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and likely other countries.

The bonus can be applied once on up to $200 or £200 in Apple ID funds, which can be used towards purchases on the App Store, iTunes Store, Apple Books Store, an Apple Music or iCloud storage subscription, and so forth. If you add the maximum $200 to your account in the U.S., for example, you will receive $220 during this promotion.

To add funds directly to your Apple ID, go to Settings > Your Name > iTunes & App Store and tap your Apple ID > View Apple ID. Sign in if necessary, tap "Add Funds to Apple ID," tap the amount that you want to add, and confirm your selection. On iOS 14, the "iTunes & App Store" menu has been renamed to "Media & Purchases."

Vizio today announced that the Apple TV app will be rolling out to some of its smart TV models "later this summer," suggesting that the app should be available by no later than the end of September in the United States.

When available, the Apple TV app will allow owners of select Vizio smart TVs to stream Apple TV+ shows and movies, use the à-la-carte Apple TV Channels feature, access their iTunes libraries of movies and TV shows, and buy or rent more than 100,000 shows and movies from the iTunes Store. It is unclear exactly which models will be supported.

The Apple TV app is already available on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC, Apple TV, select Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, and select Samsung and LG smart TVs.

Sony will also roll out the Apple TV app later this year, according to Apple.

As noted on Reddit, AMD has released Boot Camp drivers for the 16-inch MacBook Pro with Radeon Pro 5600M graphics, providing full compatibility with Windows 10.

Introduced earlier this month as a $700 upgrade, Apple says the 5600M graphics with 8GB of HBM2 memory are up to 75 percent faster than the 5500M graphics with 4GB of GDDR6 memory in the base model 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Boot Camp allows Windows to be directly booted on Intel-based Macs. The utility will not be supported on future Arm-based Macs with custom-designed Apple processors, with Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi having stated that "purely virtualization" will be the route going forward for running Windows.

Spotify today launches its real-time lyrics feature in 26 worldwide markets including India, countries in Southeast Asia, and Latin America, according to TechCrunch.

In mobile Spotify apps that receive the update, users can tap the Lyrics card at the bottom of the Now Playing screen, and lyrics scroll across the screen in time to the music, allowing listeners to read them or even sing along in real time.

The following countries will reportedly get the new real-time lyrics feature from 10am ET on Tuesday: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, El Salvador, Uruguay, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

The launch is happening thanks to a new agreement with lyrics provider Musixmatch, which was also the source for the lyrics tests conducted last year. Previously, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Mexico included some lyrics support from other providers.

TechCrunch notes that Canadian users who also reported they could use the lyrics feature in last year's trials will no longer have access to it when the support rolls out to other markets later today.

It's currently unknown whether the new real-time lyrics feature will expand to additional markets anytime soon, but it's hard to imagine Spotify not bringing it to the U.S. and other major Western markets when the necessary licensing agreements are made.

Apple Music gained a similar real-time lyrics feature with the release of iOS 13 last September and macOS Catalina 10.15.4 in March this year.

Dolby Atmos support for the Apple TV app arrived this week on select LG smart TVs, reports 9to5Mac. Dolby Atmos enables sounds to be precisely placed and moved in three-dimensional space, rather than being constrained to channels.

LG confirmed in February that Dolby Atmos support for the ‌Apple TV‌ app and AirPlay 2 would be coming in a software update to compatible TVs later in the year. No further details were provided, so we cannot confirm if this applies generally to 2019 and 2020 LG TVs or only some of them.

For those models that do receive the update, users can enjoy movies and TV shows with more three-dimensional audio when viewed in the ‌Apple TV‌ app and, presumably, when streaming content over ‌AirPlay‌ 2. Dolby Atmos is also supported on the ‌Apple TV‌ 4K running tvOS 12 or later.

Apple has released its TV app on several smart TVs, including all of LG's 2020 models and select 2019 models. The TV app lets users access ‌Apple TV‌+ subscription content as well as the iTunes Store, where they can buy and rent individual movies.

The latest shipment estimates for Apple's upcoming mmWave-enabled 5G iPhones are several million units lower than previously expected, which is intensifying competition among suppliers of AiP substrates, reports DigiTimes.

Shipments of mmWave-enabled 5G iPhones slated for launch later this year are estimated to reach only 15-20 million units in 2020 compared to a previous supply chain estimate of 30-40 million units, intensifying competition among Apple's suppliers of FC-AiP substrates for the new phones, according to industry sources.

Apple is believed to be designing its own antenna-in-package or "AiP" module for mmWave iPhones, which use a set of 5G frequencies that promise ultra-fast speeds at short distances, making it best suited for dense urban areas. By contrast, sub-6GHz 5G is generally slower than mmWave, but the signals travel further, better serving suburban and rural areas.

According to DigiTimes, Apple's AIP package is more cost-effective than previous designs, but some analysts believe that models with support for ultra-fast mmWave technology will likely launch after sub-6GHz models due to production challenges and the global health crisis. To counter these challenges, Apple has diversified its supply chain for the modules to minimize risk.

The upcoming mmWave 5G iPhones will adopt more cost-effective FC-AiP process, with ASE Technology to package AiP modules, the sources said. But Apple reportedly has finalized three suppliers of BT-based FC-AiP substrates, including one based in Taiwan and two in South Korea, and they will together supply 30-50 million substrates, the sources said, adding one iPhone will require 2-3 AiP modules.

Prior to the global health crisis, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple was still on track to release both sub-6GHz and sub-6GHz-plus-mmWave "iPhone 12" models simultaneously in the second half of 2020, with shipments beginning in the late third quarter or early fourth quarter.

Kuo has not indicated whether those plans have since changed, but other analysts have said they believe the mmWave iPhones may not arrive this year because Apple's custom antenna-in-package is proving to be more of a battery drain than the company would like.

Kuo has said 5G iPhone models with mmWave would be available in five markets, including the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, and the United Kingdom. He also believes Apple may disable 5G functionality in countries that do not offer 5G service or have a shallow 5G penetration rate to reduce production costs.

Safari 14, introduced in the iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur betas, introduces HDR video support and allows Netflix users to watch content in 4K HDR and Dolby Vision for the first time.

As pointed out by 9to5Mac, Netflix has long offered 4K content that can be viewed on other platforms like the 4K Apple TV, but it has not been available to Mac users due to hardware limitations.

Watching 4K HDR content on Mac requires a Mac introduced in 2018 or later, so older Macs will continue to be limited to 1080p resolution on Netflix with macOS Big Sur.

As we covered last week, tvOS 14 and iOS 14 are now compatible with YouTube's VP9 codec, allowing 4K YouTube content to be watched on those platforms, but the codec is not yet supported in Safari 14 in macOS Big Sur.

Apple today launched a new Apple Card program and website that are designed to help people who have their ‌Apple Card‌ applications declined improve their credit to qualify, reports TechCrunch.

Starting today, declined ‌Apple Card‌ applicants will begin seeing emails that offer the Path to ‌Apple Card‌ program, which is opt-in and can run for four months. It uses the information from the initial ‌Apple Card‌ credit application to provide people with details on why they were declined as well as suggestions on how to improve financial markers that could help them get approved next time.

Examples of suggestions include resolving past due balances, making payments to secured and unsecured debt accounts on time, and lowering credit card and personal loan debt. Apple will send out a once-a-month update on progress toward improvement.

When a customer has completed the program, Apple invites them to reapply for the ‌Apple Card‌. Apple has also launched a website that has specific details on how the Goldman Sachs approval process works and how people can boost their chances of approval before applying.

As TechCrunch points out, the suggestions that Apple offers are obvious to those with knowledge of how credit works, but there are many people who do not have a strong grasp on the factors that can impact credit worthiness, and Apple's program could help these people.

When it comes to privacy, Apple knows whether a person has chosen to participate in the program, but it does not store personally identifiable information or know details about participants' financial situation. Goldman Sachs does not share the information with third parties for advertising or marketing purposes.

Apple was hoping to use OLED panels sourced from display manufacturer BOE for some of the iPhone models coming in 2020, but BOE will not be a supplier for the first batch of panel shipments for the new iPhones due to manufacturing issues.

According to DigiTimes, BOE has failed to secure Apple's validation for the OLED screens.

Apple is planning to release four OLED iPhones this year, measuring in at 5.4 inches, 6.1 inches (x2), and 6.7 inches. The 5.4-inch iPhone and one 6.1-inch model will be positioned as more affordable successors to the iPhone 11, while the other 6.1-inch iPhone and the 6.7-inch model will be "Pro" devices that follow the iPhone 11 Pro.

Samsung Display will be the major OLED panel supplier for all of the new iPhones, while BOE and LG Display were developing OLED screens for the entry-level 6.1-inch iPhone model. BOE is working out the quality issues impacting its manufacturing and is hoping to begin shipping OLED panels to Apple in the fourth quarter of 2020.

LG Display will pick up the slack and plans to ramp up shipments for the 6.1-inch model, shipping 23 to 25 million units up from the 18 to 23 million originally planned. Samsung Display is expected to ship 18 to 20 million units for the 5.4-inch iPhone, 16 to 18 million for the higher-end 6.1-inch iPhone, and 22 to 24 million units for the high-end 6.7-inch iPhone.

BOE's failure should not have a significant impact on the release date of Apple's 2020 iPhones as Apple can rely on Samsung Display and LG Display. Other factors may somewhat delay this year's iPhone lineup, and there have been rumors suggesting some or all of the iPhones could be announced in September and launched later, perhaps in October.

BOE began volume manufacturing flexible OLED panels in 2019, but its yield rate barely reaches around 20 percent at the current time, which Apple is unable to work with.

BOE is now trying to improve its yield rate by combining the front-end process of its B7 fab and the backend process of the B11 line, indicated the sources, noting that the B7 fab, also located in Sichuan, kicked off volume production in 2017 and has since ramped up its yield rate to about 70-80% recently.

If BOE's efforts to improve yield rate are successful, it could ship somewhere around two million OLED panels to Apple in 2020, but that's a best case scenario.

DigiTimes' report confirms rumors from earlier in June that suggested BOE had failed to deliver its first shipment of OLED panels for Apple's iPhone 12 due to an inability to pass OLED quality control tests.

The New York Times today announced that it is pulling out of Apple News, as the service does not "align with its strategy of building direct relationships with paying readers."

Starting today, articles from The New York Times will no longer show up in the ‌Apple News‌ app. The news site says that Apple has given it "little in the way of direct relationships with readers" and "little control over the business." Rather than allowing its articles on ‌Apple News‌, The New York Times wants to drive readers to its own website and app.

"Core to a healthy model between The Times and the platforms is a direct path for sending those readers back into our environments, where we control the presentation of our report, the relationships with our readers, and the nature of our business rules," Meredith Kopit Levien, chief operating officer, wrote in a memo to employees. "Our relationship with Apple News does not fit within these parameters."

In a statement, an Apple spokesperson said that The New York Times only provided a few ‌Apple News‌ stories a day and that ‌Apple News‌ will still provide readers with trusted information from thousands of other publishers. "We are also committed to supporting quality journalism through the proven business models of advertising, subscriptions, and commerce," said the spokesperson.

The New York Times, along with The Washington Post, was a publication that Apple courted to participate in ‌Apple News‌+, Apple's paid news service. The New York Times, The Washington Post, and many other major news sites declined to participate, though Apple did ink deals with The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and Condé Nast.

‌Apple News‌+ was not enticing as The New York Times has its own successful online subscription option already. The New York Times says that advertising in the standard ‌Apple News‌ app has also "generated little revenue for news organizations," plus Apple takes a 30 percent cut of subscriptions sold in the app.

The New York Times has more than six million subscribers and has seen increasing revenue from digital subscriptions on its site. The New York Times does not expect exiting ‌Apple News‌ to have a "material impact" on its business, and the company will continue to work with Apple on apps and podcasts.