MacRumors

Apple is widely expected to release three new iPhone models later this year, and each device will "likely" include a faster 18W USB-C power adapter and a Lightning to USB-C cable in the box, according to Japanese blog Mac Otakara.

For now, to take advantage of fast charging, customers have to spend a total of $48 to purchase a standalone 18W USB-C power adapter and Lightning to USB-C cable from Apple, although cheaper options are available on Amazon.

A bundled Lightning to USB-C cable would also mean that customers who paid at least $749 for a new ‌iPhone‌ would finally have a cable that connects with the latest MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro models out of the box.

Last year, we heard a similar rumor about Apple bundling a faster 18W USB-C power adapter with 2018 iPhones, but it ended up being for 2018 ‌iPad Pro‌ models. This is the second time Mac Otakara has shared this rumor in as many months, so hopefully there is truth to it this time around.

Mac Otakara also rehashes several other rumors we've heard before, including the next ‌iPhone‌ XS and ‌iPhone‌ XS Max having triple-lens rear cameras, and the next ‌iPhone‌ XR having a dual-lens rear camera. All three iPhones are also expected to feature two-way wireless charging like the Galaxy S10.

The all-new Powerbeats Pro will be available to pre-order from Apple.com starting Friday, May 3 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time in the United States and Canada, followed by in-store availability starting Friday, May 10, according to 9to5Mac.

Powerbeats Pro are essentially sportier AirPods, complete with a totally wireless design and Apple's new H1 chip for hands-free "Hey Siri" control. Like the existing Powerbeats3 Wireless, they also feature adjustable ear hooks, four sizes of ear tips, and sweat resistance, in addition to playback controls on each earbud.

The earphones deliver up to nine hours of listening time per charge, and it is possible to get more more than 24 hours of combined playback with the included charging case, according to Apple. There is also a Fast Fuel feature that provides 1.5 hours of playback with just a five-minute charge.

‌Powerbeats Pro‌ will be available in black at launch, followed by ivory, moss, and navy later this summer. They are priced at $249.95 in the United States and $329.95 in Canada on Apple.com, compared to $159 to $199 for the second-generation AirPods and a regular $199.95 for the Powerbeats3 Wireless.

Following an email from Phil Schiller to a MacRumors reader yesterday addressing a report from The New York Times on Apple's removal of a number of App Store apps focused on screen time monitoring and parental controls, Apple has issued a public statement sharing additional perspective on the situation.

The statement, entitled "The facts about parental control apps," is very similar in its details to the email from Schiller, highlighting how Apple "became aware" over the last year that these apps were using Mobile Device Management (MDM) technology to monitor all of the activity occurring on the user's device or devices used by their family members.

MDM technology is intended for enterprise users to manage their company-owned devices, and Apple says the use of MDM by consumer-focused apps carries privacy and security concerns that resulted in Apple addressing the situation in its ‌App Store‌ review guidelines in mid-2017.

Apple says that it notified developers of apps affected by its crackdown on this disallowed usage of MDM, giving them 30 days to modify their apps before pulling them from the ‌App Store‌.

Parents shouldn’t have to trade their fears of their children’s device usage for risks to privacy and security, and the App Store should not be a platform to force this choice. No one, except you, should have unrestricted access to manage your child’s device.

When we found out about these guideline violations, we communicated these violations to the app developers, giving them 30 days to submit an updated app to avoid availability interruption in the App Store. Several developers released updates to bring their apps in line with these policies. Those that didn’t were removed from the App Store.

Apple also directly addressed observations in this weekend's report that the move gives the appearance of anticompetitive behavior:

Apple has always supported third-party apps on the App Store that help parents manage their kids’ devices. Contrary to what The New York Times reported over the weekend, this isn’t a matter of competition. It’s a matter of security.

While Apple is firm in stating that competition did not play a role in its crackdown on these apps, the timing is certainly curious. Apple began the crackdown shortly after rolling out its Screen Time feature in iOS 12 last September, despite several of these apps having used MDM for a number of years.

Earlier today, a report from The New York Times highlighted Apple's removal of a number of App Store apps that had allowed users to monitor usage of their devices or those used by their children. The report suggests that Apple's move to pull the apps is related to having rolled out its own Screen Time feature in iOS 12 that competes in some ways with these apps, raising concerns over anticompetitive behavior.

Over the past year, Apple has removed or restricted at least 11 of the 17 most downloaded screen-time and parental-control apps, according to an analysis by The New York Times and Sensor Tower, an app-data firm. Apple has also clamped down on a number of lesser-known apps.

In some cases, Apple forced companies to remove features that allowed parents to control their children’s devices or that blocked children’s access to certain apps and adult content. In other cases, it simply pulled the apps from its App Store.

The report quotes several developers who had their apps removed, including one who says the removal came "out of the blue with no warning." Apple is facing several complaints related to the moves, with a pair of developers filing with the European Union's competition office and Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab filing an antitrust complaint in that country.

The New York Times shared a brief statement from an Apple spokeswoman saying that Apple treats "all apps the same," including ones that compete with Apple's own features like Screen Time. The spokeswoman stated that the affected apps "could gain too much information from users' devices."

After reading the article, MacRumors reader Zachary Robinson emailed Tim Cook to express concern over the situation, and earlier today he received a thorough response from Phil Schiller outlining that Apple's removal of these apps is due to their use of Mobile Device Management (MDM) technology to monitor everything that happens on the user's phone.

Schiller notes that MDM technology is intended for enterprise users to install on company-owned devices, giving them easy access to and control over those devices for management purposes. The alternative usage of MDM technology by third-party developers for screen time monitoring or parental controls raises significant privacy and security concerns, however, and Apple has moved to address those issues.

The full email from Schiller, which appears to be authentic based on our examination of the included headers:

Thank you for being a fan of Apple and for your email.

I would like to assure you that the App Store team has acted extremely responsibly in this matter, helping to protect our children from technologies that could be used to violate their privacy and security. After you learn of some of the facts I hope that you agree.

Unfortunately the New York Times article you reference did not share our complete statement, nor explain the risks to children had Apple not acted on their behalf. Apple has long supported providing apps on the App Store, that work like our ScreenTime feature, to help parents manage their children’s access to technology and we will continue to encourage development of these apps. There are many great apps for parents on the App Store, like “Moment - Balance Screen Time” by Moment Health and “Verizon Smart Family” by Verizon Wireless.

However, over the last year we became aware that some parental management apps were using a technology called Mobile Device Management or “MDM” and installing an MDM Profile as a method to limit and control use of these devices. MDM is a technology that gives one party access to and control over many devices, it was meant to be used by a company on it’s own mobile devices as a management tool, where that company has a right to all of the data and use of the devices. The MDM technology is not intended to enable a developer to have access to and control over consumers’ data and devices, but the apps we removed from the store did just that. No one, except you, should have unrestricted access to manage your child’s device, know their location, track their app use, control their mail accounts, web surfing, camera use, network access, and even remotely erase their devices. Further, security research has shown that there is risk that MDM profiles could be used as a technology for hacker attacks by assisting them in installing apps for malicious purposes on users’ devices.

When the App Store team investigated the use of MDM technology by some developers of apps for managing kids devices and learned the risk they create to user privacy and security, we asked these developers to stop using MDM technology in their apps. Protecting user privacy and security is paramount in the Apple ecosystem and we have important App Store guidelines to not allow apps that could pose a threat to consumers privacy and security. We will continue to provide features, like ScreenTime, designed to help parents manage their children’s access to technology and we will work with developers to offer many great apps on the App Store for these uses, using technologies that are safe and private for us and our children.

Thank you,

Phil

Apple's dedication to privacy and security is well-known, so it's unsurprising the company took steps to address concerns related to how these apps were monitoring device usage. But for some users who had come to prefer the capabilities of these apps such as cross-platform compatibility with Android devices in their households and more robust app controls, Apple's Screen Time feature feels like a step backward.

Apple had discussions with Intel about potentially acquiring parts of Intel's smartphone modem chip business, reports The Wall Street Journal. Apple was interested in Intel's technology to speed up its own efforts to build modem chips for smartphones.

Intel and Apple entered into discussions last summer and the talks continued for months, but ended right around the time Apple settled its legal dispute and reached a supply agreement with Qualcomm.

Sources at Intel that spoke to The Wall Street Journal said that Intel is exploring "strategic alternatives" for its smartphone modem chip business, and is still interested in a sale to Apple or another company.

In an interview yesterday, Intel CEO Bob Swan confirmed that Intel is considering alternatives "based on what's best" for Intel's IP and employees.

Selling the modem business would allow Intel to unload a costly operation that was losing about $1 billion annually, according to another person familiar with its performance. Any sale would likely include staff, a portfolio of patents and modem designs related to multiple generations of wireless technology, said Patrick Moorhead, principal at Moor Insights & Strategy, a technology firm.

Intel announced earlier this month that it was exiting the 5G smartphone business, just hours after Apple and Qualcomm announced a resolution to their legal troubles and a new supply deal.

Apple had been planning to use Intel's 5G chips in its 2020 iPhones, but rumors suggested Intel was having trouble meeting design deadlines and that the relationship between Apple and Intel was souring. Just yesterday, Swan also confirmed that Apple's deal with Qualcomm was the reason why Intel decided to stop making 5G chips.

Apple is now planning to use Qualcomm's 5G modem chips in its 2020 5G iPhones. Intel has said that it is going to continue to supply 4G LTE chips to meet already established orders, which means that Apple's 2019 iPhone lineup will likely continue to use Intel chips rather than Qualcomm chips. It is too late in the design cycle for Apple to swap chips for this year's upcoming devices.

Indian blog CashKaro has collaborated with OnLeaks to share new renders of the so-called "iPhone XI" and "‌iPhone‌ XI Max," providing a side-by-side comparison of the expected successors to the ‌iPhone‌ XS and ‌iPhone‌ XS Max.

Both new iPhones are expected to stick with the same 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch OLED displays as the ‌iPhone‌ XS and ‌iPhone‌ XS Max, but the thickness of each device is said to increase to 8.1mm and 7.8mm respectively as previously reported. Both the ‌iPhone‌ XS and ‌iPhone‌ XS Max are 7.7mm thick.

Apple's depth measurement does not include the camera bump, so with the slight reduction in size expected there, the change in overall thickness between 2018 iPhones and 2019 iPhones may be negligible.

As widely rumored by now, the new iPhones are expected to feature a triple-lens rear camera system in a triangular arrangement. While the camera bump has a larger square-shaped design, it appears to be less protruding, as the rear panel of each device is said to be formed out of a "single piece of glass."

The renders also suggest that 2019 versions of the ‌iPhone‌ XS and ‌iPhone‌ XS Max will feature a redesigned circular-shaped mute switch within a pill-shaped cutout, similar to the one on older-generation iPads.

Beyond that, the renders suggest that 2019 iPhones will be similar to 2018 iPhones in many ways, complete with the same notch, bezels, stainless steel frame, Lightning connector, speaker grilles, and volume buttons. This would be more or less the same design as Apple has used since the ‌iPhone‌ X in 2017.

In addition to the static images, CashKaro and OnLeaks teamed up to create a 360-degree video of the renders:

Last week's surprise Apple and Qualcomm settlement and multiyear chipset supply agreement was the driving force behind Intel exiting the 5G smartphone modem business, according to Intel CEO Bob Swan.

"In light of the announcement of Apple and Qualcomm, we assessed the prospects for us to make money while delivering this technology for smartphones and concluded at the time that we just didn't see a path," Swan said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, as noted by The Verge.

Swan's comment suggests that Intel was surprised by the Apple-Qualcomm settlement and acted reactively when it announced its exit from the 5G smartphone modem business just hours later, but multiple reports indicate that Intel was unable to meet Apple's demands for 5G modems in 2020 iPhones.

It's hard to imagine that Apple and Qualcomm would have suddenly settled their bitter legal battle if Intel was able to supply 5G modems for 2020 iPhones, but Intel was reportedly struggling with its 5G modem development, possibly leaving Apple with little to no choice but to settle with Qualcomm.

iPhones have a long development cycle, so it was likely crunch time for Apple to choose a 5G modem supplier for its 2020 iPhones. Given this long lead time, Intel is still expected to supply LTE modems for 2019 iPhones.

iFixit has decided to pull its revealing Samsung Galaxy Fold teardown. The decision is said to have been made after Samsung indirectly requested its removal from the website, which published the teardown on Wednesday. iFixit provided the following statement on its blog:

We were provided our Galaxy Fold unit by a trusted partner. Samsung has requested, through that partner, that iFixit remove its teardown. We are under no obligation to remove our analysis, legal or otherwise. But out of respect for this partner, whom we consider an ally in making devices more repairable, we are choosing to withdraw our story until we can purchase a Galaxy Fold at retail.

It's unclear why Samsung wanted the teardown removed, but a few possibilities come to mind. Perhaps the company intends to make significant changes to the design of the Galaxy Fold before it's officially launched, and it doesn't want a teardown on the web of a device that's substantially different to the one that eventually goes to market. Or maybe it was simply taking action against a partner that hadn't been given the authority to provide the device to iFixit in the first place.

Another interpretation, offered by The Verge's Dieter Bohn, is that Samsung didn't appreciate the bad press that came with the teardown, after it exposed the design flaw allowing debris to ingress behind the display, which presumably caused so many review units to break, and led Samsung to recall them and then delay the device's launch. Whatever the reason, it doesn't look terribly good for the company.

Samsung has yet to offer a new release date for the Galaxy Fold. In an email sent on Wednesday to pre-order customers about the delayed launch, Samsung said that it will update customers with more specific shipping information in two weeks. In the meantime, anyone still interested in checking out iFixit's teardown can find it on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.

Apple's famous and close-knit industrial design team that works under Apple design chief Jony Ive is undergoing major changes, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.

Three longtime industrial design team employees are leaving the team. Rico Zorkendorfer and Daniele De Iuliis both left Apple recently, and another team member, Julian Hönig, is leaving in the next few months. Together, Zorkendorfer and De Iuliis have worked at Apple for a combined 35 years, while Hönig has been on the team for a decade.

Zorkendorfer told The Wall Street Journal that he decided to leave Apple to spend time with his family, while the other two declined to comment.

Apple's industrial design team is made up of approximately two dozen employees and is overseen by Jony Ive directly. These employees are responsible for the look and feel of Apple products, including the iPhone.

According to Above Avalon analyst Neil Cybart, who spoke to The ‌Wall Street Journal‌, it "makes sense" for the team's composition to shift as Apple adopts new products in areas like augmented reality and autonomous vehicles. The industrial design team is described as "all-powerful" at Apple.

This group is all-powerful in Apple," said Neil Cybart, who runs Above Avalon, a site dedicated to Apple analysis. "Industrial designers have the final say over the user experience found with Apple devices, and they really do work like a family in a way. No one would argue, though, that new blood is a bad thing."

The three industrial design team members are departing the company at a time when ‌iPhone‌ sales have slowed and services are becoming more important than ever to Apple. Apple has announced a multitude of new services, including Apple News+, Apple Arcade, Apple Card, and Apple TV+.

Only a few members of the industrial design team have left during the last decade, but it has seen more frequent departures in recent years. Danny Coster left in 2016 to join GoPro, and Christopher Stringer left in 2017 and launched an audio startup currently in stealth mode.

According to one of the designers who left the team, Zorkendorfer, there are "incredible new designers" at Apple. "What we've been able to do the last few decades will continue," he told The ‌Wall Street Journal‌.