MacRumors

Apple today formally announced its upcoming "She Creates" initiative at Apple Stores, which will see Apple host more than 5,000 Today at Apple sessions highlighting inspiring female creators using photography, design, technology, business, and film to "to address tough topics, explore new perspectives and empower their communities."

"Celebrating the work, spirit and contributions of women is so important to Apple," said Deirdre O'Brien, Apple's senior vice president of Retail + People. "We're thrilled to recognize International Women's Day through the 'She Creates' programming series and bring these experiences to our stores so everyone can be inspired by some of the world's most passionate and innovative creators."

International Women's Day, which takes place on Sunday, March 8 in 2020, is a global day designed to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements by women. While Apple participates in International Women's Day each year, it is not an event created by Apple.

Starting today, there are two new Today at Apple sessions inspired by women, including a Music Lab featuring the music of Alicia Keys and an Art Lab called "Playful Portraits" that draws inspiration from three female artists in New York, Tokyo, and Warsaw. Other special Today at Apple sessions are planned for select stores around the world throughout March, with more information available on Apple's Today at Apple website

Along with "She Creates" sessions at Apple retail stores, Apple says that every day in March, it will highlight apps and games created by female developers, designers, and entrepreneurs through the App of the Day and Game of the Day features.

In the Apple TV app, there's a new International Women's Day collection highlighting women who are "changing the narrative through storytelling across the movie and TV landscape." There are sections dedicated to Bold New Voices, Women Directing Women, Rebellious Icons, and Recent Watershed Moments in TV.

On March 8, Apple plans to release a curated collection on Apple Podcasts called "Changing the Narrative," which features podcasts celebrating women podcasters, shows, and stories. In Books, Apple will feature women recommending their favorite books.

Finally, Apple Watch owners around the world can earn an International Women's Day Apple Watch award and stickers by completing a walk, run, or wheelchair workout of 20 minutes or more.

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AT&T today announced the nationwide launch of AT&T TV, which is a live TV streaming service that is available through a set-top box powered by Android TV (via Variety). This isn't the same thing as AT&T TV Now, the company's app-based live TV streaming service available on Apple TV and other devices.

After testing AT&T TV in 13 markets, the company is moving AT&T TV to the forefront of its TV business with the launch of the service this week across the United States. Simultaneously, DirecTV plans will no longer be actively marketed as AT&T plans to deemphasize the DirecTV branding moving forward. However, DirecTV plans will still be available to purchase.

The new service offers hundreds of live TV channels, 500 hours of cloud DVR storage, and 40,000 on-demand titles. With the box, you'll be able to watch Netflix, Disney Plus, YouTube, and HBO Max as well. The Google Play store will be supported, allowing you to further expand its usage with more than 5,000 apps.

Similar to ‌Apple TV‌, the AT&T TV voice-enabled remote comes integrated with Google Assistant for controlling channels, volume, playback, smart home devices, and more. If you search for movies and TV, results will show options for both streaming content, as well as those available for rental and purchasing on Google Play Movies & TV.

AT&T TV works on any high-speed internet connection, and it can also be bundled with AT&T's 1-gigabit Internet plan. AT&T TV packages start at $49.99 per month for 12 months with a 24 month agreement when you buy the service standalone. According to the fine print on AT&T's website, the prices will be higher in the second year.

Specifically, this means that prices nearly double after the first 12 months with the service. The entry-level Entertainment plan has about 70 cable channels at $49.99/month for the first year, and from the 13th month onward it will run you $93/month. The Ultimate tier has more than 170 channels at $69.99/month for the first year, and then from the 13th month you'll pay $135/month.

"Our customers told us what they want from their TV service and we built AT&T TV around that,” said Thaddeus Arroyo, CEO of AT&T Consumer. “AT&T TV is live TV made easy and when you add AT&T TV to our amazing 1 gigabit AT&T Internet you can’t go wrong.”

There is also a $19.95 activation fee and prorated early-termination fees if you cancel before your two year contract is up. You do get the Android-powered box for free, but if you want to add more into your home you'll have to pay $120 per box.

Over-the-top streaming TV services have been facing numerous issues lately. AT&T rebranded DirecTV Now to AT&T TV Now in 2019, and has been facing ongoing subscriber loss amid increased prices and poor service reliability. Meanwhile, Sony bowed out of the game for good and shut down PlayStation Vue in January.

Variety asked AT&T’s executive VP of broadband and video, Rasesh Patel, if the company is worried about customers' reactions to the high cost of AT&T TV once prices go up. According to Patel, the company feels confident about AT&T TV because of the "product experience" with the set-top box, which is "very unique."

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

Apple has agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle a long-running class action lawsuit in the United States that accused the company of "secretly throttling" older iPhone models, as reported by Reuters.

Each affected iPhone user in the class would receive $25, according to the preliminary settlement, reviewed by MacRumors. The amount could increase or decrease slightly depending on legal fees and the aggregate value of approved claims, with Apple's total payout to fall between $310 million and $500 million.

The class includes all former or current U.S. owners of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus, and SE running iOS 10.2.1 or later (for the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, and SE) or iOS 11.2 or later (for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus), and who ran these iOS versions before December 21, 2017.

Apple has maintained no legal wrongdoing despite agreeing to the settlement. U.S. federal judge Edward J. Davila is expected to preliminarily approve the proposed settlement on April 3, 2020.

The class action lawsuit was filed in December 2017, after Apple revealed that it throttles the maximum performance of some older iPhone models with chemically aged batteries when necessary in order to prevent the devices from unexpectedly shutting down. The complaint called it "one of the largest consumer frauds in history."

Apple introduced a performance management system in iOS 10.2.1, but it did not initially mention the change in the update's release notes. Likewise, in a statement issued a month later, Apple still only mentioned vague "improvements" resulting in a significant reduction in unexpected ‌iPhone‌ shutdowns.

Apple only revealed exactly what the so-called "improvements" were after Primate Labs founder John Poole visualized that some ‌iPhone‌ 6s and ‌iPhone‌ 7 devices suddenly had lower benchmark scores starting with iOS 10.2.1 and iOS 11.2 respectively, despite operating at maximum performance on previous versions.

Apple apologized for its lack of communication in December 2017, and reduced the price of battery replacements to $29 for ‌iPhone‌ 6 and newer through the end of 2018. Apple then released iOS 11.3 with a new feature that enables users to track their ‌iPhone‌ battery's health and performance status.

The performance management system has also been disabled by default since iOS 11.3, and it is only enabled if an ‌iPhone‌ suffers an unexpected shutdown. The performance management can be manually disabled by users as well.

A report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think-tank has named Apple among 83 other major companies benefiting from the use of potentially abusive labor transfer programs.

The Chinese government has allegedly transferred thousands of Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities from Xinjiang to factories across the country, implicating global supply chains.

The report estimates that at least 80,000 Uyghurs were transferred out of Xinjiang to work in factories across China between 2017 and 2019, some of whom were sent directly from "detention camps".

Transferred workers typically undergo organized Mandarin and ideological training outside working hours, are subject to constant surveillance and are forbidden from participating in religious observances. The Washington Post has corroborated the report's claims.

China has attracted international condemnation for its network of extrajudicial "re-education" internment camps in Xinjiang.

The report identifies four Chinese factories in Apple's supply chain which use Uyghur labor to make parts for Apple and its suppliers.

O-Film Technology Co., which supplied camera modules for iPhone 8 and iPhone X, and BOE Technology Group, a company set to become Apple's second-largest OLED screen supplier by 2021, both reportedly use Uyghur labor, either directly or through contractors. AirPods supplier GoerTek is also listed.

As many as 560 Xinjiang workers were transferred to factories in central Henan province, including to Foxconn Technology's Zhengzhou facility, which reportedly makes half of the world's iPhones.

Over the past decade, Foxconn has been marred by allegations of worker exploitation and even suicides, including recently at its Zhengzhou facility.

In 2019, Apple released a supplier responsibility progress report, stating that "we hold ourselves and our suppliers to the highest standards to ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect".

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's iPhone production will not significantly improve until the second quarter of 2020, according to a research note from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo obtained by MacRumors. In the past few weeks, Kuo has warned of delays and low labor return rates at Apple supplier factories in China.

iPhone camera lens shipments from supplier Genius Electronic Optical reportedly fell significantly over the past month, and supplies are dwindling. Kuo predicts there is about a month of lens inventory remaining, with significant production resuming in May at the earliest.

Looking forward to upcoming models, Kuo predicts the 2020 iPhones will maintain the same ultra-wide lens design as the iPhone 11.

Kuo in January predicted that all of the 5G iPhones were still on track to launch in the fall of 2020. More recently, Kuo mentioned that the long-rumored "iPhone 9" or "iPhone SE 2" would still be on track to launch in the first half of 2020 despite the coronavirus outbreak.

With the effects of COVID-19 reaching global status, it remains to be seen how much more of an impact the virus will have on Apple's supply chain.

iPhone camera module supplier LG Innotek has closed one of its factories after a worker tested positive for coronavirus, reports Reuters. Located in Gumi, South Korea, the factory is close to Daegu, where most of the South Korean coronavirus cases have been confirmed. A company official stated that the plant will be closed on Monday for disinfection.

The report also mentions that Samsung has also been forced to shut down one of its factories in Gumi due to a worker contracting the virus.  The factory will not fully reopen until Tuesday.

LG Innotek is an important supplier for Apple, and it remains questionable as to whether or not the factory will reopen on Tuesday.  If the shutdown remains brief, there will unlikely be any major impacts on iPhone production.

Just a few days ago, Tim Cook did an interview with Fox Business in which he expressed optimism about things returning to normal. In regards to China, Cook said it "feels to me that China is getting the coronavirus under control." Apple has even begun sending care packages to those affected in the Hubei and Wenzhou provinces in China.

Apple has sent gift packages that include an iPad, face masks, hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, and more, to its employees stranded in Wenzhou and Hubei due to the coronavirus, according to details shared on Chinese social network Weibo.

While over half of Apple Stores have reopened on shortened hours in China, many retail, corporate, and manufacturing staff remain at home. Families who have received the care packages are said to be "moved" by Apple's efforts.

A letter enclosed in each parcel says that the iPads are provided for children's online learning or to help pass the time during the "prolonged stay at home."

Dear Colleagues in Hubei and Wenzhou,

We hope this note finds you heathy and well. Since the last communication with you, we understand that you are all staying strong in this challenging time. We understand the difficulties you are facing and would like to provide our best support to you and your families. Hubei and the city of Wuhan have been hit hardest by the coronavirus outbreak, which has now claimed 2,835 lives in China.

We are sending our best wishes to you, on behalf of the entire Apple Team, together with another CareKit for you and your families. In the kit, you will find comfort items and an iPad which can be used to facilitate children's online learning or help pass the time during the prolonged stay at home.

In addition, a series of counselling and consultation services have been prepared especially for you to help you through this time.

At Apple's annual shareholder meeting on February 26, CEO Tim Cook commented on the prioritization of employee health and safety amidst the challenges of the outbreak. Last month he outlined plans to donate to coronavirus relief efforts in China, and in February, when Apple announced that it would not reach its March revenue goals, Cook said the company was more than doubling its donation.

Apple's stock price has seen major fluctuations in recent days due to coronavirus causing uncertainty in the global markets.

Apple appears to have a bunch of new products ready to launch in the near future, led by the long-rumored iPad Pro, which is now looking like it may come alongside a new Smart Keyboard that even includes a trackpad.

Powerbeats4 earphones also appear to be imminent, while Target has a ton of new placeholder listings in its inventory system that may point toward updates for a lot of other Apple products.

Read on for all of the details on those stories and more, and celebrate the 20th birthday of MacRumors!

New AirPods, Apple TV, iPod Touch, and Apple Watch Band Placeholders Listed in Target Inventory System

Just days before March, a common month for new Apple product releases, new AirPods, Apple TV, iPod touch, and Apple Watch band placeholders have appeared in U.S. retailer Target's inventory system. The listings could represent upcoming Apple products or be entirely speculative.

A report last week claimed that Apple is aiming to host a special event on Tuesday, March 31, with rumors suggesting that the company may introduce a new lower-cost "iPhone 9" and refreshed iPad Pro models sporting a triple-lens rear camera system with 3D sensing. We've also heard rumors about new AirPods and Apple TV models.

Apple's plans may change due to the uncertainty of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, but CEO Tim Cook this week said he feels that "China is getting the coronavirus under control."

Apple's Rumored Powerbeats4 Receive FCC Approval

Another product release on Apple's horizon appears to be Powerbeats4 wireless earphones, which received FCC approval this week ahead of their launch.

While an Apple event in March is certainly a possibility, the Powerbeats4 will likely be announced within the coming days or weeks via press release.

"Powerbeats4" should be an upgraded version of Powerbeats3 with an Apple-designed H1 chip for hands-free "Hey Siri" voice commands and "Announce Messages with Siri." Apple already released Powerbeats Pro with "Hey Siri" support for $249 last year.

Apple Said to Release iPad Pro Smart Keyboard With Trackpad in 2020

Apple is planning to release an iPad Pro keyboard with a built-in trackpad later this year, according to a report from The Information this week.

Last month, a separate report claimed that Apple is working on an iPad keyboard with backlit keys and scissor switches, so those features could also be part of this new Smart Keyboard with a trackpad.

Mac With Apple-Designed Arm Processor Expected in First Half of 2021

Apple's first Mac with a processor designed in house is set to be released during the first half of 2021, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

There are no other details provided, but multiple rumors in the past have suggested that Apple is working on custom Arm-based processors that would allow it to transition away from its current supplier Intel.

AirTags Said to Be 'Completely Waterproof' and Use Magnetic Charging Like Apple Watch

Apple's rumored Tile-like "AirTags" item trackers will be "completely waterproof" and use similar magnetic wireless charging to that seen on the Apple Watch, according to Japanese blog Mac Otakara.

MacRumors uncovered evidence of Apple working on item tracking tags in iOS 13 code last year, including an unreleased "Items" tab in the Find My app and a potential "AirTag" name for the tags, which would attach to everyday belongings like keys and backpacks for tracking purposes.

The tags will support Ultra Wideband and launch in the first half of 2020, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Ultra Wideband support would allow for more precise location accuracy than Wi-Fi or Bluetooth LE.

MacRumors is 20 Years Old This Week

Monday marked the 20th anniversary of MacRumors!

While longtime readers may be familiar with the site's origins, there are plenty of others who are unaware that it began as a hobby while our founder Arnold Kim was a medical student, and it remained a side project for over eight years until he decided to give up medicine to focus on MacRumors as a full-time career.

Kim reflected on the site's beginnings in a 2008 article in The New York Times.

MacRumors Newsletter

Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.

So if you want to have top stories like the above recap delivered to your email inbox each week, subscribe to our newsletter!

The annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) that was set to take place from March 16 to March 20 in San Francisco, has been postponed until "later in the summer," event organizers announced today.

After close consultation with our partners in the game development industry and community around the world, we've made the difficult decision to postpone the Game Developers Conference this March.

Having spent the past year preparing for the show with our advisory boards, speakers, exhibitors, and event partners, we're genuinely upset and disappointed not to be able to host you at this time .

We want to thank all our customers and partners for their support, open discussions and encouragement. As everyone has been reminding us, great things happen when the community comes together and connects at GDC. For this reason, we fully intend to host a GDC event later in the summer. We will be working with our partners to finalize the details and will share more information about our plans in the coming weeks.

GDC is the latest event to be canceled due to concerns over the COVID-19 coronavirus, and the announcement comes after many major companies had dropped out of the event. Sony, EA, Microsoft, Blizzard, Unity, and Epic had all said they would not attend.

GDC is one of the biggest gaming conferences in the world, last year attracting approximately 27,000 attendees. The event takes place every spring at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.

All paid registrants who signed up to attend GDC will receive a full refund within four to six weeks. Presentations from conference speakers and awards recipients that would have been given at GDC will be made available for free online. Some of the GDC 2020 talks, the Independent Games Festival, and the Game Developers Choice Awards will be streamed on Twitch on March 16 to March 20.

The postponement of GDC comes just a day after Facebook announced that its F8 developer conference has been canceled. F8, which was set to take place on May 5 and 6, was going to be held at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California, which is the same venue Apple uses for WWDC.

WWDC typically takes place in June, with this year's dates likely to be right around June 8 to June 12. Given that Facebook has canceled its May event, it's possible that Apple is considering a similar move. Other major upcoming events in California that are still happening as of this time include E3 in June and Google's I/O conference, set to take place in May.

Earlier this year, Mobile World Congress, a major trade show that takes place in Spain, was canceled, and multiple other events have been shuttered due to coronavirus concerns. The Geneva International Auto Show was canceled today, as were Baselworld and the Geneva watch show, both of which focus on watches.

Several Disney parks, including Shanghai Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland Tokyo Disneyland, and Tokyo DisneySea are also closed.

GDC's postponement announcement was released just after health officials in California confirmed a second case of community spread COVID-19 in the United States caught by a 65-year-old woman who had not traveled and who had not come in close contact with anyone who had the virus.

The second instance of community spread COVID-19 was found in Santa Clara County, which is where Apple's campuses in Cupertino, California are located. The first case of unknown origin, announced earlier this week, was found in Solano County in Northern California.

As expected, the United States Federal Communications Commission today proposed fines against the four major wireless carriers in the United States for improperly sharing and selling real-time customer location information without taking "reasonable measures" to protect against unauthorized access to the data.

In a statement [PDF] released today, the FCC says that T-Mobile should pay the most, while Sprint should pay the least. T-Mobile faces a proposed fine of more than $91 million, while the FCC wants AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint to pay over $51 million, $48 million, and $12 million in fines, respectively.

The fines vary based on the length of time that each carrier sold access to its customer location information without safeguards and the number of entities to which each carrier sold access.

Along with the proposed fines, the statement from the FCC admonishes the four carriers for disclosing customer location data without authorization to third-party entities.

"American consumers take their wireless phones with them wherever they go. And information about a wireless customer's location is highly personal and sensitive. The FCC has long had clear rules on the books requiring all phone companies to protect their customers' personal information. And since 2007, these companies have been on notice that they must take reasonable precautions to safeguard this data and that the FCC will take strong enforcement action if they don't. Today, we do just that," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. "This FCC will not tolerate phone companies putting Americans' privacy at risk."

All four of the major U.S. carriers sold customer geolocation information to data aggregators like LocationSmart and Zumigo, with those companies then reselling the data to third-party location-based service providers. The data was ultimately provided to law enforcement officials, bounty hunters, bail bondsman, and more.

The FCC says that though exact practices varied, each carrier relied heavily on contract-based assurances that the location-based services providers they worked with would get consent from the customer before accessing the customer's location information, which did not happen.

Carriers had "several commonsense options to impose reasonable safeguards," but ultimately "failed to take the reasonable steps needed to protect customers from unreasonable risk of unauthorized disclosure."

The fines proposed by the FCC today are not final and each carrier will be provided with an opportunity to respond and provide evidence and legal arguments before final fines are imposed.