MacRumors

Apple today seeded the third beta of macOS 10.15 Catalina for testing purposes, two weeks after seeding the second macOS Catalina beta and a month after the new Mac operating system update was first unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

The new macOS Catalina beta can be downloaded using the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences. As with all new betas, macOS Catalina should not be installed on a primary machine as it is early release software and could have major bugs.

macOS Catalina removes the iTunes app, splitting it into Music, Podcasts, and TV apps. The Apple Music and Apple Podcasts apps are available now, while the Apple TV app is coming later this year.

The new apps are similar in function to iTunes, but are split up by feature. iOS device management is still available on the Mac, but it's now done through Finder rather than iTunes.

With a new Sidecar feature, you can turn your iPad into a second display for your Mac with just the click of a button. The Apple Pencil works with ‌Sidecar‌, so you can turn your ‌iPad‌ into a drawing tablet in apps like Photoshop and Illustrator.

Your Apple Watch can be used to approve security prompts in macOS Catalina, and Macs with a T2 chip support Activation Lock. There's a new Find My that brings the ‌Find My‌ Mac app to the Mac for the first time and even lets you track your devices when they're offline.

Screen Time is now available on the Mac as well as iOS devices, and Project Catalyst, a new Apple initiative, will let developers easily port their ‌iPad‌ apps over to the Mac.

There's a new Photos interface that surfaces your best photos organized by day, month, or year, there's a new start page in Safari, Mail has new tools for muting email threads and blocking senders, and the Reminders app has been overhauled.

32-bit apps no longer work in macOS Catalina, which is something to be aware of before installing the beta. For more details on macOS Catalina, make sure to check out our macOS Catalina roundup.

Apple this week received FCC approval for an unreleased MacBook Pro with a model number of A2159, which is one of the model numbers that was recently registered with the Eurasian Economic Commission.

In the FCC documentation, Apple specifies that the unreleased A2159 machine is a ‌MacBook Pro‌, which is curious as the ‌MacBook Pro‌ already received a 2019 refresh in May.

A2159 is a model that was not included in the May update, and it's not entirely clear what it is. As a Reddit user points out, the back of the machine says that it's rated at 20.3V - 3A Max, which is equivalent to 61W, perhaps suggesting a refreshed 13-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌.

There's a possibility that Apple is planning to launch an updated 13-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ without a Touch Bar, which is one of the machines that did not receive a May update. The non-Touch Bar 13-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ has not seen a refresh since 2017.

Apple is also said to be developing a 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ that features a new design and larger display perhaps enabled through slimmer bezels, though it's not clear if that is the machine outlined in the FCC document given the power information specified.

FCC approvals tend to be published right when a new machine launches, so we could see the A2159 ‌MacBook Pro‌ model quite soon.

Update: The FCC has pulled all of the documentation on the new A2159 machine.

Samsung yesterday announced plans to hold an event on Wednesday, August 7 in New York City, where it will unveil the next-generation Galaxy Note device.

Samsung splits its smartphone unveilings into two events each year, and in February unveiled its Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10+. The Galaxy Note line is Samsung's larger smartphone equipped with a stylus, and the Note 10's unveiling will come just about a month ahead of when we're expecting to see Apple's 2019 iPhone lineup.

There were no details provided about the upcoming device, but Samsung says it is going to "unveil new devices designed to take the Galaxy ecosystem's connectivity to the next level." The event's invite features an S-Pen and a camera lens.

Rumors and leaked design renders suggest the Galaxy Note 10 will feature 6.28 and 6.75-inch glass bodies (two sizes are rumored) with the same boxy design used in previous note devices. The front is said to feature an edge-to-edge display with a single center hole punch camera while the back is said to include a quad-camera setup.

There are three traditional cameras (12-megapixel wide-angle, 12-megapixel ultra wide-angle, and 12-megapixel telephoto) along with a fourth time-of-flight 3D depth camera, which is a feature that rumors have indicated Apple will bring to the ‌iPhone‌ in 2020. It's also supposed to include an under-display fingerprint sensor like the Galaxy S10, and 5G variants may be offered as well.

Samsung may also use its upcoming August event to provide more detail on when we can expect the delayed Galaxy Fold to launch. Samsung planned to release it earlier this year but then canceled its debut after multiple poor reviews from media sites.

Samsung has also shown off a Bixby smart speaker several times, which is designed to compete with the HomePod. The Galaxy Home speaker has not yet launched and little has been said about it recently, but we could hear more at the Unpacked event.

We don't know when Apple will unveil its own 2019 smartphone lineup, but based on past years, we can expect the Cupertino-based company to hold an event somewhere around the first or second week of September, with September 9 or September 10 being likely possible candidates.

Apple plans to offer its 2019 iPhones in three sizes, identical to the current ‌iPhone‌ lineup. The two higher-end devices will continue to use OLED, while the ‌iPhone‌ XR successor will feature an LCD and a cheaper price tag.

The ‌iPhone‌ XS and XS Max successors will use triple-lens cameras, while the XR successor will feature a dual-lens camera. The camera updates will be the biggest changes to the iPhones in 2019.

No 5G connectivity is coming this year, but faster WiFi and LTE is expected, as are some neat little tweaks like bilateral wireless charging for charging AirPods and other devices with the ‌iPhone‌. A much more substantial update with 3D cameras, new sizes, and 5G is expected in 2020. For more on the 2019 iPhones, make sure to check out our roundup.

Chinese company Xiaomi is gearing up to launch a new smartphone, the CC9, and along with it the company has introduced what it's calling "Mimoji" (via Engadget). Unsurprisingly given their name, these 3D avatars appear and function very similar to Apple's Memoji, letting users create and design their own torso-less characters and send them through texts.

Xiaomi's avatars bear a striking resemblance to the avatars and customization options offered by Apple, down to similar hats and art styles. On iPhone, users can create and customize their Memoji, and then send them as videos or stickers in Messages, and it appears that Xiaomi's Mimoji will act in a similar fashion.

Of course, the idea of personalized 3D avatars has been around for a while, with companies like Samsung and Microsoft letting users create digital versions of themselves to use on smartphones, consoles, and elsewhere. With Xiaomi's decision to name its version of this idea Mimoji, however, the inspiration appears to be derived mostly from Apple.

This isn't the first time that Xiaomi copied an emoji-related idea from Apple, as the company launched the equivalent of Apple's Animojis on its Mi 8 smartphone last year. This device also strongly resembled the ‌iPhone‌ X design, with its own notch and vertical dual-lens camera. There was also an AirPods clone released by Xiaomi earlier in 2019.

Xiaomi's CC9 smartphone will go on sale in China on July 5.

Update: In a Xiaomi press release, translated by Twitter user @e_l_l_l, the company refutes claims that Mimoji is a clone of Apple's Memoji: "We have conducted internal audits and found no evidences that our Mimoji characters have [been] plagiarized from any of our competitors including Apple."

Apple intends to launch a new iPhone for the budget-conscious Chinese market that features an under-display fingerprint sensor instead of expensive Face ID technology, Chinese media sources have claimed.

According to Sino-based English-language paper The Global Times, Apple will release the new "tailored ‌iPhone‌" in the country to arrest declining sales, which have been worsened by cost pressures from the 18-month long trade war between the U.S and China.

The new phone will reportedly remove Face ID, the facial recognition system for the iPhone, and instead employ an under-display fingerprint function, news site caijing.com.cn reported, citing sources on the upstream industry supply chain. An industry insider revealed that this is likely to "save on costs."

A structured light laser emitter, the major component of Face ID, would cost several hundred yuan, said a Beijing-based representative who preferred to be anonymous. He told the Global Times on Monday that "only Apple can afford it but that would also affect its sales."

Apple has effaced fingerprint recognition entirely in its flagship smartphone lineup, which includes the ‌iPhone‌ XS, ‌iPhone‌ XS Max, and LCD-based ‌iPhone‌ XR. All have a notch at the top of the screen housing the TrueDepth sensing camera in lieu of a Home button, which contained Touch ID's focused capacitive drive ring in earlier iPhones.

Apple was widely rumored to be attempting to integrate ‌Touch ID‌ under the display on 2017's ‌iPhone‌ X, but the company ditched any form of fingerprint scanning after hitting "early line of sight" with ‌Face ID‌. Chinese smartphone brands like Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo have since gone in the opposite direction and extended the adoption of in-display fingerprint sensing technology from their premium smartphones to mid-range models.

The increased use of fingerprint scanners in smartphone screens is also reportedly being driven by a reduction in sensor prices and the price gap between OLED and LCD panels. This strategy adopted by domestic brands appears to have paid off, with Apple losing many Chinese users who prefer smartphones priced at around 5,000 yuan ($731), which has resulted in an increase in purchases of local brands, according to Monday's report.

Despite the market shift to fingerprint sensing tech, many observers believe Apple is done with ‌Touch ID‌ in smartphones, although the company has explored various in-display fingerprint scanner solutions in the past, including fingerprint sensing MicroLED displays. ‌Touch ID‌ has also found a new lease of life on laptop keyboards, specifically in Apple's MacBook Pro with Touch Bar range and the latest MacBook Air.

Notably, following meetings with suppliers in Apple's Asian supply chain in May, Barclays analysts claimed that 2020 model iPhones will have acoustic fingerprint technology that could allow for full-screen ‌Touch ID‌.

Regardless, news of Apple's declining sales in China contrasts with the company's most recent earnings results. CEO Tim Cook said in April that performance in China had improved over the previous quarter, thanks in part to a sales tax cut in the country that allowed Apple to decrease the price of its products, and a "much better tone" in the China-U.S. trade relationship.

Following Apple's announcement that Jony Ive will be leaving the company to start his own design firm later this year, there have been multiple reports speculating on why Ive left and his time at Apple over the course of the last few years.

The Wall Street Journal published one such report over the weekend, suggesting that after the release of the Apple Watch and its failure as a fashion accessory, Ive was dispirited and wanted to take a step back from day to day work at the company.

The report further suggested that Ive's hands-off approach was disrupting work internally as he failed to show up to meetings and failed to offer design team members the guidance they needed, particularly on the iPhone X. Ive was said to be frustrated with an increasing focus on operations over design.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, in an email to NBC News, called the story "absurd" and said that the conclusions drawn by the report "don't match with reality." From Cook's email:

The story is absurd. A lot of the reporting, and certainly the conclusions, just don't match with reality. At a base level, it shows a lack of understanding about how the design team works and how Apple works. It distorts relationships, decisions and events to the point that we just don't recognize the company it claims to describe.

The design team is phenomenally talented. As Jony has said, they're stronger than ever, and I have complete confidence that they will thrive under Jeff, Evans, and Alan's leadership. We know the truth and we know the incredible things they're capable of doing. The projects they're working on will blow you away.

Apple last week said that Ive is leaving Apple to begin his own company, LoveFrom. Apple will be LoveFrom's first client, and Ive said that he plans to continue to work on Apple design projects.

Ive also said that Apple's design team is "stronger, more vibrant, and more talented" than at any other point in time, and that he has complete faith in future Apple products and the Apple design team.

macOS Catalina, currently available to developers and public beta testers in a beta capacity, revives the defunct Expansion Slot Utility app ahead of the launch of the Mac Pro.

The Expansion Slot Utility app is designed for managing and configuring PCI cards, and its return is clearly meant for the ‌Mac Pro‌, which has a total of eight PCIe expansion slots that Mac users can work with.

The Expansion Slot Utility app was discontinued years ago following the launch of the 2008 ‌Mac Pro‌ but the new 2.0 version is back for the modular ‌Mac Pro‌.

Signs of the Expansion Slot Utility app are hidden in the second macOS Catalina beta, and when the ‌Mac Pro‌ becomes available at some point this fall, ‌Mac Pro‌ users will be able to take advantage of the utility.

Apple in iOS 13 and macOS Catalina introduced Project Catalyst, designed to allow iOS developers to port their iPad apps over to the Mac with little effort, making it simpler for developers to design cross-platform apps.

Ars Technica recently spoke with some of the Apple team members responsible for creating and promoting Project Catalyst, and it's worth a read for those who are interested in the feature.

Apple decided to allow developers to port ‌iPad‌ apps instead of iPhone apps because it's a "more natural transition" bringing an app from an ‌iPad‌ to a Mac due to the closer display sizes. From Todd Benjamin, Apple's senior director of marketing for macOS:

Just design-wise, the difference between an iPad app and an iPhone app is that the iPad app has gone through a design iteration to take advantage of more screen space. And as you bring that app over to the Mac... you have something that's designed around that space that you can work with and that you can start from.

Ali Ozer, Apple's cocoa engineering manager, also said that choosing the ‌iPad‌ pre-empts user concerns about mobile ports spilling over to the desktop. "This is one way of making developers aware that an ‌iPhone‌ app in its current form might not be the right design," said Ozer.

Developers who have already used Project Catalyst have been able to port ‌iPad‌ versions of Twitter, TripIt, and Asphalt 9: Legends to the Mac. The developers that have worked with Project Catalyst told Ars that it was, on the whole, simple to use and "able to just work," as one Twitter developer said.

As for quality concerns, Apple's Catalyst team expects public reviews to be a major factor when it comes to ensuring Mac apps offer a rich, Mac-like experience. From Shaan Pruden, Apple's senior director of partner management and developer relations:

"Then we come down to customers' reaction and ratings and all of that kind of stuff. Which hopefully will drive the right behavior for a developer, which is to do the work and do it right and don't be lazy."

The full deep dive into Project Catalyst can be read over on the Ars Technica website, and it goes into detail on just how Project Catalyst functions, what developers think of the feature thus far, and it shares Apple's thoughts on SwiftUI.

As it has done in years past, Apple yesterday marched in the annual San Francisco Pride parade, which is one of the bigger Pride events in the country and sees nearly 100,000 spectators during the event. Apple employees appeared in the parade with a large sign that showcased a rainbow version of the Apple logo.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was in attendance, as seen in a few selfies taken during the parade with fans and fellow Apple employees. A few other Apple executives marked the event as well, including Apple's new retail chief Deirdre O'Brien.

Apple has celebrated Pride in multiple ways this year, including the launch of the new Apple Watch Pride Sport Loop earlier in June. The new watch band is the third iteration of the Pride design for the Apple Watch, following two rainbow-emblazoned Woven Nylon Pride bands that released in 2017 and 2018.

The company also routinely donates to charities that support LGBTQ individuals, and Cook himself is set to receive GLSEN's "Champion Award" for his ongoing commitment to fighting for LGBTQ rights. Cook recently stated, "I am grateful to GLSEN for this honor and for all their work to ensure the LGBTQ community is treated with dignity and respect."

Apple has long voiced support for LGBTQ causes like same sex marriage, as well as having spoken out against some controversial laws that predominantly risked negatively affecting the lives of gay, lesbian, and transgender individuals.

Before he publicly came out as gay in late 2014, Apple CEO ‌Tim Cook‌ fought for equality in speeches and op-eds. Under late CEO Steve Jobs, Apple also opposed many discriminatory laws, including 2008's Proposition 8 that sought to eliminate the right to same sex marriage in California.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues 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 today announced a new series of live concerts that will be held in retail locations around the world this summer, under a new initiative called "Up Next Live." All of the artists playing concerts are alumni of Apple Music's Up Next program, which highlights up-and-coming musicians.

For Up Next Live, this includes Khalid, Bad Bunny, Jessie Reyez, King Princess, Lewis Capaldi, Daniel Caesar, and Ashley McBryde (via MacGeneration).

The concerts will be held at places including Apple Union Square in San Francisco, Apple Champs-Élysés in Paris, Apple Carnegie Library in Washington, D.C., and Apple Michigan Avenue in Chicago. The event kicks off with Bad Bunny's performance at Apple Piazza Liberty on July 9, and then one concert will be held each week through Khalid's performance in Washington, D.C. on August 23.

This summer, seven of music’s brightest rising stars will play intimate after‑hours concerts at seven marquee Apple Store locations around the world. All of the artists are alumni of Apple Music’s Up Next program; some are on the brink of massive success, while others have already achieved it. Either way, you’ll never see them perform like this again.

To get into each concert, you'll have to be 16 years of age or older, and register for tickets on Apple's website. Tickets will be free but are subject to a random draw; those who win will gain one ticket for themselves and one for a guest. All ticket registration closes on July 3, so those interested should check out Apple's ticketing site soon.