MacRumors

A class action lawsuit originally filed against Apple in 2013 over broken iPhone 4, ‌iPhone‌ 4s, and later ‌iPhone‌ 5 power buttons is finally set to proceed to jury trial in San Diego state court beginning October 25, 2019.

The lawsuit alleges that Apple knowingly sold the aforementioned ‌iPhone‌ models with "defective" power buttons and refused to properly remedy the issue. For this, Apple is accused of "deceptive" or "fraudulent" business practices, breach of warranty, and violating multiple California consumer laws.

The proposed class includes California residents who purchased an ‌iPhone‌ 4, ‌iPhone‌ 4s, or ‌iPhone‌ 5 from Apple or a third-party retailer:

iPhone 4 and 4S Class:

All California citizens who purchased one or more iPhone 4 or 4S smartphones from Apple or a third-party retailer, from June 24, 2010 through October 10, 2011 for the iPhone 4, and from October 11, 2011 through September 20, 2012 for the iPhone 4S, and whose sleep/wake (power) button stopped working or worked intermittently during a one year period from date of purchase.

iPhone 5 Class:

All California citizens who purchased one or more iPhone 5 smartphones from Apple or a third-party retailer prior to April 1, 2013, and whose sleep/wake (power) button stopped working or worked intermittently during a three year period from date of purchase.

In April 2014, Apple initiated a program offering free repairs of a "small percentage" of ‌iPhone‌ 5 models with power buttons that may "stop working or work intermittently," but the lawsuit alleges that the program went "unnoticed" and began "ten months after the initial complaint in this matter."

The class action lawsuit seeks damages in an amount to be proven at trial, plus restitution, injunctive, and declaratory relief. Apple denies all of the allegations in the complaint, and denies that it did anything improper or unlawful.

As with any class action lawsuit, proposed members can do nothing to remain part of the class, or opt out to retain the right to sue Apple individually.

(Thanks, Steve!)

Apple will likely launch two new AirPods models as early as the fourth quarter of 2019, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

In his latest research note, obtained by MacRumors, Kuo forecasts that two new AirPods models will likely go into mass production between the fourth quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020, with Luxshare, Goertek, and Amkor expected to be Apple's primary suppliers of the new earphones.

Kuo believes one of the new AirPods models will feature an "all-new form factor design" and a "higher price" than the second-generation AirPods, which cost $159 with a standard charging case and $199 with a wireless charging case. The other model is expected to be a more iterative update with the same pricing.

Both new AirPods models are said to adopt a new system-in-package design internally, which can improve assembly yield rates, save space internally, and reduce costs, but Kuo does not elaborate on outward-facing design changes.

The lead excerpt from Kuo's research note:

We expect Apple will likely launch two new AirPods models in 4Q19 at the earliest. One is the all-new form factor design at a higher price. The other's outlook and price will be the same as the current model's. A common internal design factor of these two new AirPods will be to abandon the current "SMT+RFPCB" design and change to adopt the SiP design instead for improving assembly yield rates, saving internal space and reducing cost.

Kuo is "positive on the demand for AirPods" and Apple's wireless headphones market share, as he believes the "all-new design" of one of the new models "could boost the replacement demand and attract new users." He estimates AirPods shipments will reach 52 million units in 2019 and 75-85 million units in 2020.

Last month, Apple launched second-generation AirPods powered by an Apple-designed H1 chip, enabling hands-free "Hey Siri" functionality and up to 50 percent more talk time compared to the original AirPods. The second-generation AirPods feature the same outward design as the original.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman was first to reveal Apple's roadmap for AirPods, including the second-generation pair with "Hey ‌Siri‌" support, while DigiTimes also expects third-generation AirPods to launch by the end of the year.

iFixit today published its teardown of Samsung's Galaxy Fold, offering more details on a potential flaw in the device, which has now been delayed following reports of several broken review units.

Essentially, it looks as though Samsung was so focused on perfecting the folding mechanism on the smartphone/tablet hybrid that it made a major oversight: providing adequate protection against the ingress of debris between the OLED screen and the chassis bezel.

To achieve the fold, the thin bezel that surrounds (and protects) the screen leaves a gap where the two halves meet... This 7 mm gap doesn't seem like a huge deal, but it leaves the display exposed—so should something accidentally enter, it's curtains for the screen. (Oops.)

When closed, the screen is protected—but the spine is flanked by massive gaps that our opening picks hop right into. These gaps are less likely to cause immediate screen damage, but will definitely attract dirt.

Many reviewers experienced multiple issues while testing the device, including a random bulge appearing on the display, as well as flickering and failing screens. In many cases, the issues were enough to make the $1,980 device completely unusable.

In a statement, Samsung said its initial findings from the inspection of reported issues on the display showed that they could be associated with impact on the top and bottom exposed areas of the hinge. It also said "substances" were found inside the device, which affected the display performance.

As iFixit notes, it will be interesting to see how folding designs manage to overcome these weaknesses in future - if indeed they have a future. Following Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi revealed that they too will launch folding smartphones, and there are signs Apple is looking into the possibility of a foldable iPhone. Apple has filed several patent applications related to folding phones that variously fold inward, outward, and both inward and outward.

As for the Galaxy Fold, the months ahead look increasingly uncertain. One day after Samsung said it was delaying the launch of the hybrid handset, the company announced that it would be retrieving all Fold devices that were distributed to reviewers.

In an email to pre-order customers about the delayed launch, Samsung said that it will update customers with more specific shipping information in two weeks. "Your pre-order guarantees your place in the queue for this innovative technology," the company promised.

Apple Pay officially launched in Austria this morning. Apple's mobile payment system is now supported by the country's largest bank Erste Bank und Sparkasse, as well as German-based mobile bank N26, allowing customers to add bank cards to their digital wallet.

Apple says additional ‌Apple Pay‌ partners "coming soon" to Austria will include Bank Austria, Boon, Edenred, Revolut and VIMPay.

Last month, both Erste Bank und Sparkasse and N26 banks announced that ‌Apple Pay‌ was coming to Austria, with support for Maestro, Mastercard, and Visa debit and credit cards.

‌Apple Pay‌ first launched in the United States in October 2014 and is also available in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, France, Japan, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Russia, New Zealand, Brazil, Poland, Ireland, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates.

Apple CEO Tim Cook last month said ‌Apple Pay‌ will be available in more than 40 countries and regions by the end of 2019.

DigiTimes reports this morning that Apple is set to launch third-generation AirPods with a noise cancelation function by the end of the year, a claim at odds with rumors that Apple's AirPods 3 have been pushed back to 2020.

Apple is reportedly set to release its third-generation AirPods for sales by the end of 2019, with the new wireless earphones to incorporate a noise cancellation function. And Taiwan's Inventec reportedly will be the major assembler of AirPods 3, while China's Luxshare Precision will also grab part of the orders for the new device, according to industry sources.

Today's report claims that Apple will fend off competition from rival brands of true wireless earbuds by including a noise-canceling function in its third-generation AirPods, although doing so could throw up new design and assembly challenges.

The sources said that noise cancellation is not a new technology, but a technology hard to harness. On the one hand, semiconductor devices can hardly work without suffering electromagnetic disturbance, and on the other hand how the structural design of the noise forward feedback microphone can be done well to achieve harmonious operation with other devices is a great challenge for designers and assemblers.

In addition, earphones with noise-cancellation function will consume more power than those without, and it remains to be seen how Apple will do to reduce power consumption, the sources indicated.

Taiwan's Inventec is said to be uniquely positioned to meet the production challenges of AirPods 3, thanks to its extensive assembly experiences, giving the manufacturer a better chance of winning assembly orders from Apple than China's Luxshare Precision. As it stands, the assemblers command an equal share of orders for AirPods 2, which launched just last month.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has also claimed that Apple's third-generation AirPods could include noise cancellation features, as well as a new design, and perhaps improved water resistance that will allow the AirPods to hold up to "splashes of water and rain." However, Gurman believes that AirPods 3 won't be coming until 2020, based on his understanding that Apple's second-generation AirPods were delayed by a year, which has pushed back the earbuds' launch cycle.

Apple released AirPods 2 in March with optional wireless charging and hands-free Siri functionality. For all the details on what's different between the first-gen and second-gen AirPods models, check out our dedicated comparison guide.

Razer last week announced the launch of its latest eGPU, the $400 Razer Core X Chroma, equipped with, as the name suggests, Razer's signature Chroma lighting.

Razer sent us one of the Core X Chroma eGPUs to check out, and we've gone hands-on with it in our latest YouTube video to see how well it works with Apple's Macs.

The Core X Chroma looks similar to the previous-generation Core X eGPU, with a rather large all-aluminum enclosure that will support NVIDIA GeForce RTX, GeForce GTX, and Quadro cards along with AMD XConnect-enabled Radeon and Radeon Pro cards (note that there are no suitable modern NVIDIA drivers, so most Mac users who plan to use the eGPU for macOS will want to choose AMD).

Like the prior model, it's compatible with Apple's Thunderbolt 3 Macs and using it is as simple as plugging it into the USB-C port on a compatible machine. Adding in your graphics card can be done with just a few steps, no tools required. No graphics card comes with the Core X Chroma, of course, as it's just an enclosure.

Adding your own graphics card is going to give you access to desktop-class performance without sacrificing the portability of a notebook machine. We stuck a Radeon RX 570 in the eGPU, which more than doubled the graphics performance of the Radeon Pro 555X included in the 2018 MacBook Pro we tested it with.

Razer's equipped the Core X Chroma with 4 USB-A ports and a Gigabit Ethernet port, which is new, along with the standard single Thunderbolt 3 port. The Core X Chroma also has a 700W power supply so it supports more powerful graphics cards than the previous model. You can use the Core X Chroma to transform a ‌MacBook Pro‌ or MacBook Air into a desktop-class machine with a single cable, which is handy.

Aside from the addition of more ports and a better power supply, the Core X Chroma has RGB lighting included, something that looks great on or below your desk. Unfortunately, Razer's software for adjusting the lights on the Core X Chroma isn't available on Mac, which kind of limits the utility of the extra feature.

The lights will work on their own, but if you want to customize them, you need Razer's Windows-only Synapse software. That's a major negative for any Mac user considering the eGPU who doesn't plan to use it with Boot Camp.

Razer charges $300 for its standard Core X, and this upgraded version with Chroma lighting and more ports is $100 more expensive at $400. It's available from Razer's website if you're interested in purchasing one. What do you think of the Razer Core X Chroma? Let us know in the comments.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Razer. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming iOS 12.3 update to its public beta testing group, one day after seeding the beta to developers and two weeks after releasing the second public beta.

Beta testers who have joined Apple's beta testing program will receive the iOS 12.3 beta update over-the-air after installing the proper certificate on an iOS device.

Those who want to download the new beta can do so after signing up for the beta program, which gives access to iOS, macOS, and tvOS betas.

iOS 12.3 brings the new TV app that Apple first introduced at its March 25 event. The TV app is an updated version of the original TV app, offering up TV shows, movies, sports, news, and more all in one easy-to-access spot.

The updated TV app has improved content recommendations available through a new "For You" section in the app, which will suggest shows and movies you'll like based on your past watched history.

There's also a new feature called Channels. Channels are subscription services that you can sign up for and watch in the TV app without having to open up another app. Some of the new Channels include CBS All Access, Starz, Showtime, HBO, Nickelodeon, Mubi, The History Channel Vault, and Comedy Central Now. During the beta, users can subscribe to Showtime, Starz, Smithsonian, and Tastemade.

In the future, the TV app will also house Apple TV+, Apple's upcoming streaming service for its original TV shows and movies.

Apple's Powerbeats Pro, set to launch in May, will only be available in black when they first go on sale. The detail, first noticed by 9to5Mac, was recently added to the Powerbeats Pro listing on the Beats website.

‌Powerbeats Pro‌ will eventually be available in Ivory, Moss, and Navy alongside the standard Black color, with Apple offering a greater range of colors than are available with the AirPods.

Powerbeats Pro in Black availability begins in May. Ivory, Moss and Navy will be available this summer. Color availability is subject to change.

Apple announced the ‌Powerbeats Pro‌ in Early April, positioning the $250 earbuds as an AirPods alternative focused on fitness with included earhooks for keeping them in place and sweat resistance.

‌Powerbeats Pro‌ offer many of the same features first introduced in the AirPods 2, including an H1 chip for fast connectivity to an iPhone and simple switching between devices, Hey Siri support, and a dedicated charging case, though one without wireless support. Automatic ear detection, microphones for phone calls, and physical buttons are all included with the ‌Powerbeats Pro‌.

Compared to the AirPods, the ‌Powerbeats Pro‌ offer longer battery life with nine hours of listening time per earbud along with more than 24 hours of additional battery life via the charging case.

Apple says sound was its "highest priority" when developing the ‌Powerbeats Pro‌, and because these earbuds offer silicone tips that fit in the ears, sound isolation is an included feature.

‌Powerbeats Pro‌ will be launching in May, though Apple has not provided a specific release date or specified whether preorders will be available. For more on the ‌Powerbeats Pro‌, make sure to check out our guide.

Apple has indicated that most MacBook and MacBook Pro keyboard repairs will be required to be completed at Apple Stores until further notice, rather than being shipped to an off-site Apple repair center, according to an internal memo shared with Apple Store employees last week and obtained by MacRumors.

Apple's memo, titled "How to support Mac customers with keyboard-related repairs in store," advises Genius Bar technicians that these keyboard repairs should be "prioritized to provide next-day turnaround time":

Most keyboard-related repairs will be required to be completed in store until further notice. Additional service parts have been shipped to stores to support the increased volume.

These repairs should be prioritized to provide next-day turnaround time. When completing the repair, have the appropriate service guide open and carefully follow all repair steps.

Apple did not provide a reason for this change, but the company is known for customer satisfaction, so it could be trying to speed up the process a bit to alleviate frustration.

The turnaround time for MacBook and ‌MacBook Pro‌ repairs shipped to Apple's off-site facilities has typically ranged between three to five business days, and sometimes longer, so next-day turnaround would be much more convenient for customers if Genius Bars can actually fulfill that ambitious timeframe.

Shortly after the 2015 MacBook and 2016 ‌MacBook Pro‌ were released with lower-profile butterfly mechanism keyboards, complaints began to emerge about "sticky" keys causing repeating letters and other inconsistent behavior during routine use. In more severe cases, keys pop out of position or stop working altogether.

Following a few years of anecdotal complaints, and no less than three lawsuits, Apple finally initiated a worldwide service program offering free repairs of 12-inch MacBook models released between 2015 and 2017 and ‌MacBook Pro‌ models released in 2016 and 2017 for customers with expired warranty coverage.

That program remains in effect, but Apple has yet to extend free repairs to the still-under-warranty 2018 ‌MacBook Pro‌ or 2018 MacBook Air, which are still prone to keyboard issues to a lesser extent – despite both having third-generation butterfly keyboards with a silicone membrane designed to mitigate the issues.

The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern recently brought some attention to the continued keyboard issues, prompting Apple to apologize:

We are aware that a small number of users are having issues with their third-generation butterfly keyboard and for that we are sorry. The vast majority of Mac notebook customers are having a positive experience with the new keyboard.

Affected customers should visit Apple's Get Support page to book an appointment with a Genius Bar or an Apple Authorized Service Provider, who are also authorized to complete free repairs under Apple's service program.

On the latest episode of the Connected podcast on Relay FM, MacStories editor-in-chief Federico Viticci suggested that USB mouse support could eventually be coming to the iPad Pro as an accessibility feature.

"What I heard is without adapters, you will be able to use any USB mouse on your iPad, but as an accessibility device," said Viticci. "The ‌iPad Pro‌ has a USB-C port, so just plug in a USB mouse and if you have physical impairments, if you have any other kinds of motor impairments, just use a USB mouse in accessibility mode."

It has long been possible to use a compatible adaptive accessory like a joystick or trackball with Apple's accessibility feature AssistiveTouch to control an iPhone, ‌iPad‌, or iPod touch, but USB mouse support would seemingly eliminate the need for any specialized hardware or adapters.

Viticci cautions this is something he "heard months ago" and he isn't sure "if it'll happen," but as noted by iDownloadBlog, well-known developer Steve Troughton-Smith tweeted that "as far as I'm aware, that is indeed in the works."

As noted by Viticci, this wouldn't be the first time Apple enables a feature "under the catch-all umbrella of accessibility." Any user would presumably be able to toggle on USB mouse support in the Settings app, with Troughton-Smith adding that "I feel like every pro user will turn that on, day one."

In a follow-up tweet, Troughton-Smith speculated that iOS could perhaps have "a small circle or dot" for a cursor rather than a traditional pointer, but the exact implementation of mouse support if any remains to be seen.

No specific timeframe has been provided for USB mouse support on the ‌iPad‌, but it could presumably be added as early as iOS 13, which is expected to be unveiled at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June. The software update should be publicly released in September alongside new iPhones.

Listen to Connected on Relay FM. Viticci's remarks about the potential for USB mouse support on the ‌iPad‌ begin at the 1:08:35 mark.

Apple CEO Tim Cook sat down with former TIME managing editor Nancy Gibbs at the first-ever TIME 100 Summit in New York City today to discuss the need for regulation in the tech industry, privacy, education, health, and more.

We've paraphrased some of Cook's comments from the interview:

Cook on Apple's values:

It's been an interesting time period to be a CEO. I've always deeply felt that people should have values. A corporation is nothing more than a collection of people, so by extension a corporation should have values. It's not unique to Apple. We've always had a unique set of values important to us. Part of that is how we treat the environment. Advocating for high-quality education. Privacy. I tend to think as I look at the world today, the issues that we face cannot be addressed solely by government. We cannot be looking to the government to solve all the problems. I think it takes the public sector, the private sector, and academia working together to solve these problems. Climate change is not going to be solved by government -- as just one example. We've readily stepped up and participated in the conversations because we think how we do is important as what we do.

And:

I would hope that every CEO stands up and represents its employees. This will upset some people. I try not to get wrapped up in a pretzel about who we upset. … In the end, we'll be judged for "did we stand up for what we believe in?" I think people still appreciate that, even when they disagree. We've taken some unpopular opinions, I recognize that, but we do so believing deeply that they are right. We do not focus on politics. Unfortunately, everything tends to break down that way, but we tend to focus on the policy. … Apple doesn't have a PAC (Political Action Committee). Apple's probably the only large company that doesn't have a PAC. … The company donates zero to political candidates.

Cook on the need for regulation in the tech industry:

Technology needs to be regulated. There are now too many examples where the no rails have resulted in a great damage to society. When things are out in society and they don't represent the true cost, then you need to do something about it. … You have to regulate it. I've been on the regulation kick, which surprised even me, for a while, because I didn't see companies laying the basic rails in place, and then refusing to step over those.

And:

I think this is an example where Europe is more likely to come up with something. GDPR isn’t ideal, but GDPR was a step in the right direction, on the privacy side obviously. There are plenty of things it doesn’t do that it needs to do. Moving the ball forward starts in Europe, and may eventually come to the US. I think in some cases, and I think I am part of this problem, in the US we typically either… business thinks all regulation is bad regulation. Therefore, there is lots of gravity around not doing something. I think that’s a very difficult tide to work through. We are advocating very strongly for regulation because I do not see another path at this point.

Cook on privacy:

Privacy is much more meaningful to mainstream Americans now … people that I would talk to, if they were in the military, they really got it, because they fought for our civil liberties, and they knew how important those civil liberties to were Americans… in mainstream America, people didn’t really grasp it… now much more meaningful… when it begins to affect our democracy, it means even more, and you get a more visceral response. I still think that all of us, including Apple, need to talk about what it means to the user, what it means to the citizen. Why it’s important. Why the folks who wrote our Constitution thought it was important. What it means to expression. In a world where everything is totally open, people begin to guard what they will say. Think about where society will go if we are afraid to share our opinions — if we fear we are being listened to, surveilled, monitored. … However, I’m still worried that some of the tools such as encryption… could the government force Apple to create a tool that puts hundreds of millions of people at risk to get into a phone… I wish that case would have gone to court to be honest, it was dropped the day before, now that the Inspector General’s report has come out, our worst fears have been confirmed, it was a very rigged case. … This was not the government’s finest hour. … I hope we’ve advanced much further than that. It hasn’t reoccured. It’s occurred in no other country in the world … I do think for the everyday American, privacy is materially more important sitting here in 2019…

Cook on his relations with U.S. President Donald Trump:

I would never share my talks with the President. The things I’m passionate about as the leader of Apple is getting DACA fixed, getting the immigration system fixed for America, fixing these green card backlogs … Trade is very important — it’s good for America, we need to figure out that it’s good for everyone…

Cook on education:

When your founder doesn't have [a degree], it kind of says a lot about what people can do without college education. … Pushing for every kid to learn coding. I think every kid in the world should learn to code. I think it’s the most important second language to know. … Basic creativity skills are not taught in a lot of schools, so we've created our own Everyone Can Create curriculum and made it available to schools…

Cook on Apple's push into health:

We began to recognize it was important to monitor your body on a real-time basis, versus just going to the doctor once per year and having vital signs checked. … Last year, as you know, we launched the Series 4 that has an ECG in it. This is a huge thing. … Some people only have one of these in their lives. … Now you can monitor ECG on your wrist. I'm getting tons of notes from people around the world… "I would have died or had a serious issue if I didn't know this." This is what the people are telling me. I think it's a big idea to monitor your body… As we pull this string more, and recognize things we can uniquely do… as long as you have the technology and privacy, which is even more important in the health arena, if you're really solid in these things, we think you can increase the learning cycles and make significant contributions to healthcare over time. We're at the early stages of this with the Watch, and obviously we're working on a bunch more things. I do think there will be a day we look back and say Apple's greatest contribution to mankind has been in healthcare. I think that will happen.

Cook on Screen Time:

Apple has never wanted to maximize user time. We're not motivated by this by a business point of view, and certainly not by a values point of view. We want to enable things for your life, empower you to have experiences you couldn't have. It is clear there are certain apps that people can get in the mindset of just scrolling through mindlessly and continually picking up their phones to see what is happening right at this second. So, we looked at this, and we said, number one, people should know what they are doing. There is a human trait in all of us to underestimate the degree of something bad we are doing. If you ask someone how many calories they had yesterday, I bet you they will tell you they had less than they actually had. So we're telling people how much time they are spending in apps, here's how many notifications you got. If you have an iPhone, I would encourage you to do this. I've gone in and gutted the number of notifications I receive… do I really need to get thousands of notifications per day? … If you're looking at your phone more than you're looking into someone's eyes, you're doing the wrong thing. This thing will improve through time just like everything else we do. We'll innovate there just like we do in other areas. Basically, we don't want people using their phones all the time. This has never been an objective for us.

A live stream replay is available on YouTube:

One day after Samsung said it was delaying the public launch of the Galaxy Fold smartphone, the company has now announced that it will be retrieving all Galaxy Fold devices that were distributed to reviewers (via Reuters). For many reviewers, the Galaxy Fold proved to be an unreliable smartphone as the display experienced multiple issues while being tested.

These issues included a random bulge appearing on the display, as well as flickering and failing screens. In many cases, the issues were enough to make the Galaxy Fold devices completely unusable. Now, Samsung will retrieve these units and prepare for the re-launch of the smartphone at an unspecified date in the future. The Galaxy Fold was originally set to launch on April 26.

“On the bright side, we have an opportunity to nail down this issue and fix it before selling the phones to a massive audience, so they won’t have same complaints,” said a Samsung employee, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In a few cases, reviewers removed a protective layer on the smartphone's screen that looked similar to plastic films that are meant to be peeled off of displays after you open a device. For the Galaxy Fold, this layer is not meant to be removed, leading to some of the display issues.

Still, not every reviewer with a broken Galaxy Fold removed the plastic film, suggesting that there are multiple issues with the device that Samsung will have to address before a wide launch to the public. In an email to pre-order customers about the delayed launch, Samsung said that it will update customers with more specific shipping information in two weeks. "Your pre-order guarantees your place in the queue for this innovative technology," the company promised.

When it does launch, the Galaxy Fold will be available for $1,980.