MacRumors

Earlier this week, Apple announced that AirPlay 2-enabled smart TVs are coming from leading manufacturers, including Samsung, LG, Vizio, and Sony. Those four brands lead the TV market in the United States, but up-and-coming Chinese vendor TCL has made a name for itself stateside over the past few years.

When asked if TCL would be willing to work with Apple on adding AirPlay 2 support to its smart TVs, a spokesperson for TCL told MacRumors the company is "currently committed to Roku," which has a software platform for smart TVs.

TCL's partnership with Roku doesn't necessarily preclude AirPlay 2 support, but neither company is willing to promise it right now. A spokesperson for Roku said "we don't have anything to share regarding this now." We also asked Apple if it would be willing to work with TCL, but did not receive a response.

TCL describes itself as "America's fastest-growing TV brand" and the "third largest TV manufacturer in the world." The company has been able to gain market share in the United States thanks to both Roku integration and its generally less expensive lineup of smart TVs compared to the likes of Samsung and LG.

Roku OS for TCL TVs is the same software used on its standalone media players, enabling users to stream content from a wide selection of services, including Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, HBO NOW, Pandora, and Spotify.

AirPlay 2 support would allow users to stream video, audio, photos, and more directly from an iPhone, iPad, or Mac to TCL smart TVs, with multi-room audio support. HomeKit is also coming to many smart TVs, enabling users to control volume, playback, and more using Siri or the Home app on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

At least for now, however, those who want those AirPlay 2 features on their TCL smart TV will have to consider options from its competitors instead.

Today marks the 14th anniversary of the unveiling of the first-generation iPod shuffle, presented by former Apple CEO Steve Jobs on stage at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco. On January 11, 2005, Apple debuted the first-of-its-kind iPod shuffle, which completely lacked a display, weighed 0.78 ounces, and held up to 240 songs (on the 1GB model) that would be played randomly.

At the Expo, Jobs called the iPod shuffle "smaller and lighter than a pack of gum," and touted the device's low-end 512MB model, which ran for $99 in the United States and could hold up to 120 songs (the 1GB version cost $149). "With most flash-memory music players users must use tiny displays and complicated controls to find their music; with iPod shuffle you just relax and it serves up new combinations of your music every time you listen," Jobs said.

Like previous iPods, iPod shuffle connected to a user's iTunes account to sync downloaded music onto the media player. The iPod shuffle also supported AutoFill, which automatically selected the perfect number of songs to fill out the iPod shuffle from iTunes. Besides randomly playing music on shuffle, users could also flip a switch on the back of the device to play music in order.

The iPod shuffle also doubled as a portable USB flash drive that users could store personal files on to exchange between computers. In the original press release, Apple mentioned that the iPod shuffle was the latest member of the iPod family, which at the time included the fourth generation iPod, iPod mini, iPod U2 Special Edition, and iPod photo.

Apple also sold accessories at the launch of the iPod shuffle, like an armband that turned the device into an athletic accessory, a sport case that came with a neck strap, a dock, and a USB power adapter. There was even a battery pack that extended the iPod shuffle's life from 12 hours to 20 additional hours. Every iPod shuffle came with an included lanyard so users could wear the small device around their neck.

iPod shuffle was a notable release for the iPod lineup because of its huge departure from the typical iPod feature set. Besides a display, it lacked a scroll wheel, ability to manage playlists, and typical iPod features like games, address book contacts, calendar, alarm, and other software mainstays of the iPods before the shuffle.

The only buttons on the front of the iPod shuffle were for Play/Pause, Next Song/Fast Forward, Previous Song/Reverse, and volume rockers. The back held a battery level indicator light, and the three-way switch that turned the device off or alternated between randomly playing music or playing it in order. The bottom of the iPod shuffle had a removable cap where the USB plug was hidden.

Apple eventually updated the iPod shuffle throughout numerous generations. The second generation debuted on September 12, 2006, coming in at half the size of the original model and with a built-in belt clip.

The third generation iPod shuffle launched on March 11, 2009, which returned to the long, rectangular design of the original device but introduced a brushed aluminum frame and VoiceOver features. This model completely lacked playback and volume controls on the device itself, and resigned these controls to the included EarBuds.

The fourth generation of iPod shuffle came out on September 1, 2010, again returning to a previous design by mimicking the square body of the second generation, while offering a bevy of colors for customers to choose from. This was ultimately the last generation of iPod shuffle to release from Apple, and the line is now dead.

As of July 27, 2017, Apple discontinued the iPod shuffle family by removing it from the company website and online store. At that time, the iPod shuffle had been on the market for twelve and a half years. Apple also discontinued the iPod nano on the same day, leaving the iPod touch as the only remaining device in the iPod lineup.

In an internal memo distributed to Apple Authorized Service Providers, obtained by MacRumors, Apple has indicated that Late 2012 model 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs will be added to its vintage and obsolete products list on January 30.

Vintage and obsolete products are typically no longer eligible for repairs or replacement parts from Apple or Apple Authorized Service Providers, but the memo states Late 2012 model iMacs will be eligible for Apple's pilot program that will permit extended service through January 30, 2021 worldwide, subject to parts availability.

Other products in the pilot program include the iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, Mid 2012 models of the MacBook Air and Mac Pro, and Mid 2012 to Early 2013 models of the MacBook Pro. The program began in January 2018 and was expanded in August.

Vintage products are those that have not been manufactured for more than five years, according to Apple.

Apple plans to release three new iPhone models later this year, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal today:

• iPhone XR successor with a LCD display and dual-lens rear camera
  

• iPhone XS successor with an OLED display and dual-lens rear camera
  

• iPhone XS Max successor with an OLED display and triple-lens rear camera
  

• All three models may lack 3D Touch

Well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the same thing back in October, but there's a few new details here. Let's recap.

First, we've been hearing rumors that at least one new iPhone in 2019 will feature a triple-lens rear camera for quite some time, and it makes sense that it might be a feature exclusive to the highest-end, highest-priced successor to the iPhone XS Max.

The third lens could allow for advanced 3D sensing, improved optical zoom, and other functions. Earlier this week, we saw a render of what the triple-lens camera array may look like, and the design is quite polarizing:

A triple-lens rear camera on the next iPhone XS Max, whatever it is named, would increase its differentiation with the iPhone XS. The two smartphones are very similar as they exist now, with the iPhone XS Max's sole differences being a larger 6.5-inch display versus the 5.8-inch iPhone XS and longer battery life.

Meanwhile, this is the first we've heard that the iPhone XR successor may feature dual rear cameras, up from a single lens currently.

Apple has been aggressively marketing the iPhone XR, a lower-priced alternative with most-but-not-all features of the flagship iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max models. A dual rear camera could increase the $749 starting price of the iPhone XR, or eat into Apple's profit margins slightly if pricing remains unchanged.

Apple may remove 3D Touch from its entire 2019 iPhone lineup, according to the report. This is a rumor we've heard before and likely means that Haptic Touch would extend from the iPhone XR to the next versions of the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max.

Last, the report claims Apple is considering dropping the LCD model and making a complete shift to OLED displays in 2020. We've heard this rumor before, but some initially believed the transition to all-OLED would happen in 2019. This means the iPhone XR could be discontinued or upgraded to OLED next year.

Apple's worldwide Mac shipments fell in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to new preliminary PC shipping estimates shared this afternoon by Gartner.

During the quarter, Apple shipped an estimated 4.9 million Macs, down from 5.1 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple's share of the market grew, however, from 7.1 percent in 3Q18 to 7.2 percent.

Apple continues to maintain its position as the number four PC vendor in the world, behind Dell, HP, and Lenovo, but ahead of Asus and Acer.

Lenovo was the top PC vendor with 16.6 million shipments and 24.2 percent market share, followed by HP with 15.4 million shipments and 22.4 percent market share, with Dell coming in at number three with 11 million shipments and 15.9 percent market share.

Asus trailed Apple with 4.2 million shipments and 6.1 percent market share, as did Acer with 3.9 million shipments and 5.6 percent market share.

Apple's dipping Mac sales followed a trend that affected many PC vendors, with overall worldwide PC shipments dropping to 68.6 million, a 4.3 percent drop from the 71.7 million PCs shipped in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Apple also saw a small decline in the number of Macs shipped in the United States. Apple shipped 1.76 million Macs during the quarter, down from 1.8 million in the year-ago quarter, for a 2.1 percent drop in growth and 12.4 percent market share (up from 12.1 percent).

HP was the number one PC vendor in the U.S. with 4.7 million PCs shipped, followed by Dell and Lenovo. Microsoft and Acer both trailed Apple.

According to Gartner, overall worldwide PC sales were impacted by a shortage of CPUs and political and economic uncertainties in some countries, including the U.S.

"Political and economic uncertainties in some countries dampened PC demand," Ms. Kitagawa said. "There was even uncertainty in the U.S. -- where the overall economy has been strong -- among vulnerable buyer groups, such as small and midsize businesses (SMBs). Consumer demand remained weak in the holiday season. Holiday sales are no longer a major factor driving consumer demand for PCs."

For all of 2018, Gartner estimates that Apple sold a total of 18 million Macs, down from close to 19 million in 2017. Apple's shipments fell five percent year-over-year, and its total market share for 2018 dropped from 7.2 percent to 6.9 percent.

IDC also released its own shipment estimates this afternoon, noting a similar decline in sales for Apple. IDC also ranks Apple as the number four PC vendor in the world with global shipments that reached 4.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2018.

IDC's data suggests Apple's Mac shipments were down 3.8 percent, with market share remaining steady. Like Gartner, IDC estimates Apple sold 18 million Macs in 2018, down from 19 million in 2017.

It's important to note that data from Gartner and IDC is estimated and while not usually far off from Apple's sales, not entirely accurate, either. While we've been able to check estimated data when Apple provides its quarterly earnings releases with actual Mac sales information, there will be no way to do so going forward.

Apple no longer plans to break out unit sales for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, so determining the exact number of Mac sales will not be possible going forward.

Though sales were down during the holiday quarter, Apple could see some pickup in the future thanks to the October release of the new MacBook Air, a more affordable alternative to the MacBook Pro. The newly refreshed model features a Retina display, Thunderbolt 3 support, up to 16GB of RAM, a T2 chip, a new butterfly keyboard and Force Touch trackpad, and other features.

Over the course of the last month, some troubling information has surfaced about Ring, the Amazon-owned company that has millions of cameras inside and outside homes across the globe.

The Information in December suggested Ring employees in both the U.S. and the UK had unfettered, unnecessary access to customer camera feeds, and today, The Intercept has shared additional details.

Starting in 2016, Ring allowed its Ukraine-based research team to access "every video created by every Ring camera around the world." Video content was unencrypted and "easily browsed and viewed," plus videos were linked to specific customers.

Ring's Ukraine team was provided with access to further development on facial and object recognition software, with executives and engineers in the U.S. also able to access the same data even if they didn't specifically need it for their jobs.

Employees with access to customer feeds could view an individual's camera with just an email address.

Although the source said they never personally witnessed any egregious abuses, they told The Intercept "I can say for an absolute fact if I knew a reporter or competitor's email address, I could view all their cameras."

Ring employees weren't just watching outdoor video, either, with a source who spoke to The Intercept suggesting indoor video was viewed as well for the same object recognition training. Ring employees were instructed to draw boxes around objects with labeling, allowing the system to learn to recognize various things.

Employees allegedly showed each other the videos they were annotating and discussed some of the incidents they witnessed, such as people kissing, stealing, and guns being fired.

According to The Intercept, Ring is still using similar tactics for improving video tagging and object recognition. Ring Labs, the team Ring has in the Ukraine, is continuing to employ people who watch and tag details in Ring video content.

Ring spokesperson Yassi Shahmiri declined to answer The Intercept's questions about past and current data policies, but he confirmed that Ring views and annotates "certain Ring videos" that are either public or obtained with "explicit written consent."

We take the privacy and security of our customers' personal information extremely seriously. In order to improve our service, we view and annotate certain Ring videos. These videos are sourced exclusively from publicly shared Ring videos from the Neighbors app (in accordance with our terms of service), and from a small fraction of Ring users who have provided their explicit written consent to allow us to access and utilize their videos for such purposes.

Team members are held to "high ethical standards" and there are systems in place to "restrict and audit access to information." Bad actors are subject to a "zero tolerance" response if abuse is detected.

As The Intercept points out, given the information from the sources it spoke to, it is not known if Ring has always used the standards described in its current statement, and past reporting from The Information has suggested that access used to be less restrictive until Amazon purchased the service.

As Ring says, Ring users who are opting into the Neighbors system, which allows for sharing of videos to "create safer videos" are unknowingly opting in to potentially having those videos viewed by Ring employees and there is no mention of that when customers sign up for the feature.

Ring's terms of service and privacy policy do not mention manual or visual annotation by employees, even though that practice is still being used to this day, nor are customers notified that some employees had or could still have access to their camera feeds. Current and prospective Ring customers should be aware of Ring's practices and wary of who has access to their videos.

Update: A Ring spokesperson has provided the following updated statement to MacRumors on the situation:

"We take the privacy and security of our customers’ personal information extremely seriously. In order to improve our service, we view and annotate certain Ring video recordings. These recordings are sourced exclusively from publicly shared Ring videos from the Neighbors app (in accordance with our terms of service), and from a small fraction of Ring users who have provided their explicit written consent to allow us to access and utilize their videos for such purposes. Ring employees do not have access to livestreams from Ring products.

We have strict policies in place for all our team members. We implement systems to restrict and audit access to information. We hold our team members to a high ethical standard and anyone in violation of our policies faces discipline, including termination and potential legal and criminal penalties. In addition, we have zero tolerance for abuse of our systems and if we find bad actors who have engaged in this behavior, we will take swift action against them."

Apple has dropped the price of the iPhone XR by about $100 for its channel partners in China, reports Yahoo Finance. The price cut allows third-party vendors to purchase the iPhone XR more cheaply, which allows the device to be sold to customers at a lower price.

Apple is not offering direct discounts on the device in China, but third-party retailers implemented price cuts on Tuesday after Apple dropped purchasing prices.

An Apple partner that buys from Apple and sells to distributors and retailers dropped the iPhone XR's price from 5980 yuan ($881) to 5380 yuan ($793) with an additional 150 yuan ($22) coupon available.

According to Yahoo Finance, the partner in question was told by Apple to drop prices to boost iPhone XR sales.

Many vendors in China are now offering the iPhone XR at a discount. JD.com is offering customers a 400 yuan coupon that drops the price of the iPhone XR to 6099 yuan ($899), while Suning, an electronics store similar to Best Buy, now sells the iPhone XR for 6199 yuan ($914).

Both of those prices are cheaper than the 6499 yuan ($958) that Apple asks for the iPhone XR from its website and retail stores.

The discount comes just ahead of the Chinese New Year in February, and could spur additional iPhone XR sales. A report from China's National Business Daily this week suggested Apple has also implemented distributor price drops on other iPhones including the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, X, XS, and XS Max. The biggest price cuts are on the iPhone XR, however.

Another recent report suggests that Apple has cut production on the iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max by about 10 percent for the next three months.

The price drops and the production cut follow a recent Q1 2019 guidance downgrade, with Apple expecting revenue of $84 billion during the quarter. That's a year-over-year decline and a drop from the $89 to $93 million revenue guidance Apple provided in November.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that a major reason for the earnings downgrade was a weakening Chinese economy, where Apple saw softer iPhone sales than expected.

The 2019 Consumer Electronics Show is wrapping up, with Friday being the final day. For our last CES video, we visited ShowStoppers, the show floor, and a few vendor events to show MacRumors readers some of the coolest stuff that we saw this year.

Not all of what we have to share is entirely Apple related, but there are definitely some interesting, eye-catching technology products that give us an idea of where the tech sector is headed.

Some of the best TV technology at the show came from LG, with the company debuting a 65-inch TV that rolls up. The rolling mechanism lets the TV, which is super thin, tuck away when it's not in use, and then be brought back up when you want to use it.

LG's actually going to release the rollable TV, called the OLED TV R, sometime in the spring, but expect it to be sensationally expensive. LG's booth was also something special, outfitted with a seemingly endless array of curved OLED displays.

Samsung was on hand showing off its upcoming Bixby speaker, a smart speaker that's designed to compete with the HomePod. The Bixby speaker features a teardrop shape along with three metal legs, with Samsung promising smart home features and immersive sound. The Bixby speaker is set to be released soon.

Simplehuman, a company that makes automated trash cans, debuted the Sensor Mirror Hi-Fi, which works as a mirror, a lamp, and a speaker, while Kohler was demoing a smart bathtub that won't overfill and super fancy $7000 toilet with a heated seat, LEDs, speakers, Alexa integration, and automatic flushing.

LaMetric showed off a very neat looking Nanoleaf Smart Panel competitor called "Sky" that features a mosaic-style design. In addition to displaying various colored designs, the panels can be customized with weather information, social network data, the time, and tons more.

Aura, a company that made a fitness tracker popular on Kickstarter, introduced an Apple Watch "Smart Strap" that's supposed to measure weight, water, fat, and muscle via electrodes built into the band. We didn't get to try it out for ourselves, but we're interested to see if this is actually going to be a viable product.

VR was big at CES and we saw a virtual batting cage, options for boxing, and tons of VR headsets, and there were no shortage of prototype cars, as usual, most with self-driving capabilities.

The neatest automotive-related product we saw was the Bell Nexus Air Taxi, a hybrid electric-propulsion aircraft that's going to be launched by Uber sometime in the mid-2020s. Uber hopes that this air taxi, which can carry four passengers a couple hundred miles on a single charge, will be the future of transportation.

To see more of what's being shown off at CES, make sure to check out our CES Unveiled video and our Pepcom video, along with our full CES 2019 hub.

Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming iOS 12.1.3 update to developers and public beta testers, a few days after releasing the third beta and three weeks after releasing iOS 12.1.2.

Registered developers can download the new iOS 12.1.3 beta from Apple's Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center, while public beta testers can get the beta over-the-air.

The fourth iOS 12.1.3 beta is technically the third beta, but because iOS 12.1.3 includes the same updates that were supposed to be included in the iOS 12.1.2 beta that was already released, Apple released the initial iOS 12.1.3 as a second beta rather than a first beta.

Apple seeded just one beta of iOS 12.1.2 before tweaking the software to include some emergency bug fixes and the aforementioned software changes in China, rushing the update out and pushing content originally planned for iOS 12.1.2 to iOS 12.1.3 instead.

iOS 12.1.3 will mark the fourth update to iOS 12. We don't yet know what features are included, and no major changes have been found in the iOS 12.1.3 betas we've received thus far. If we find anything new in the fourth iOS 12.1.3 beta, we'll update this post.

Samsung today announced it will be hosting an event on Wednesday, February 20 at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, with the media invitation teasing new Galaxy S10 smartphones.

The Wall Street Journal today reported that Samsung plans to announce three new Galaxy S10 models along with an all-new foldable smartphone dubbed the "Galaxy Fold" at the event, with a simultaneous keynote in London. A fourth model with 5G network support will allegedly be released later in the spring.

Rumors point towards Samsung unveiling a lower-end Galaxy S10 Lite with a 5.8-inch display, Galaxy S10 with a 6.1-inch display, and Galaxy S10+ with a 6.4-inch display. The devices are expected to be released in March as usual.

Samsung typically unveils its Galaxy S smartphones at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which takes place February 25-28 this year. Samsung reportedly decided to move up its announcement since Chinese smartphone maker Huawei plans to introduce a competing foldable smartphone at the trade show.

Leaks suggest Galaxy S10 models will feature a so-called "hole-punch" display with a small cutout for the front camera instead of a notch. More cameras are also expected across the lineup, with up to a four-lens rear camera and dual-lens front camera expected on at least one Galaxy S10+ variant.

Galaxy smartphones are one of the biggest rivals to the iPhone, which is also expected to gain a triple-lens rear camera in 2019. Apple is unlikely to switch to a hole-punch display, however, due to the various sensors required for Face ID.