MacRumors

Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming iOS 12.4 update to developers, a few days after the launch of iOS 12.3, a major update that introduced Apple's revamped TV app.

Registered developers can download the new iOS 12.4 beta from Apple's Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center.

As a 12.x update, the new software may include more significant features than the smaller 12.x.x updates. iOS 12.4 will mark the the fourth major update to iOS 12 after iOS 12.3, which introduced a redesigned TV app with Apple's new Channels feature for subscribing to and watching third-party subscription content right in the TV app.

We don't yet know what we can expect to see in iOS 12.4, but we'll update this post as soon as we download the software and discover what's new. It's likely that this beta includes some Apple Card-related features, as the Apple Card is set to launch in the summer.

iOS 12.4 may be one of the last updates to the iOS 12 operating system as Apple transitions to iOS 13, which is expected to be introduced at WWDC in June.

Alexa now supports Apple Music in Australia and New Zealand on Amazon Echo and Amazon Fire TV devices, and compatible Sonos speakers, as reflected in a recently updated Apple support document.

This means ‌Apple Music‌ subscribers who own one of those devices in those countries can now ask Alexa to play songs, artists, playlists, and more from ‌Apple Music‌. This functionality first launched in the United States in December before expanding to the United Kingdom and Ireland last month.

Read our guide on how to set up Apple Music in the Alexa app, including how to make it the default music service so that you don't have to say "on ‌Apple Music‌" each time you ask Alexa to play something.

(Thanks, Brad!)

The Information has published a lengthy look into Apple's seemingly deteriorating relationship with Intel in terms of iPhone modems, leading to Apple's rekindled relationship with rival chipmaker Qualcomm last month.

The report claims that Apple's frustrations with Intel's modem efforts began much earlier than some previous reports had indicated, and involved struggles with modems for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, not just 5G smartphone modem development that Intel abandoned last month.

It was early 2017 and Apple was preparing a new line of iPhones to be released the next year, but the Intel modem for the devices, known as the 7560, wasn't working properly, according to two people with knowledge of the relationship. […] Intel had already overhauled the modem four times to bring it up to par with the latest Qualcomm modem. But missed deadlines and continuing technical issues with the chip were making Apple executives anxious, said one of the people.

"This would have never happened at Apple under my watch," Mr. Srouji barked at his Intel counterpart, Venkata "Murthy" Renduchintala, during a meeting on Apple's campus, according to the person, who was present at the meeting.

The size and structure of Intel's mobile division made it difficult to efficiently engineer modems, with teams struggling to work together, according to multiple current and former Intel employees and industry partners cited in the report.

In a statement provided to The Information, Intel also confirmed interest in its modem business from many companies, reportedly including Apple:

We have world-class 5G modem technology that very few companies have the IP and expertise to deliver. That's why many companies have expressed interest in acquiring our cellular modem assets since our recent announcement that we are assessing our options to realize the value we have created.

While it appears that Apple and Qualcomm's multi-year licensing and chipset supply agreement will result in Qualcomm supplying modems for the first 5G-enabled iPhones, expected to launch in 2020, multiple reports have indicated that Apple is on the path to developing its own cellular modems.

According to The Information, however, those in-house efforts appear to be farther away than initially thought. During interviews, the report claims Apple told prospective engineers that it expects to have its own modem ready by 2025, far later than the earliest considered possibility of 2021.

All in all, the report reaffirms the belief that Apple was so fed up with Intel's modem struggles that it had little to no choice but to settle its bitter legal battle with Qualcomm. That should result in Qualcomm modems in iPhones for at least a few years, at least until Apple finalizes its own chip.

Apple Pay has been gradually expanding across Europe and the Middle East, launching in Poland, Norway, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia, Austria, and Iceland over the last year.

Now, mobile banking service Monese has revealed that ‌Apple Pay‌ is also coming soon to its cardholders in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Latvia, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Many of these countries are located in Eastern Europe.

‌Apple Pay‌ is also nearing launch in the Netherlands, Hungary, and Luxembourg for a total of 16 upcoming countries. Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that ‌Apple Pay‌ will be available in more than 40 regions by the end of 2019.

‌Apple Pay‌ first launched in the United States in October 2014 and has since expanded to dozens of countries and territories. The service can be used anywhere contactless payments are accepted with a compatible iPhone or Apple Watch, and it is also accepted by select apps and websites.

OnePlus today unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 7 Pro, which offers an impressive feature set at a price that beats out flagship devices from other smartphone manufacturers, including Apple.

We were able to go hands-on with the OnePlus 7 Pro at the OnePlus event this morning, so we thought we'd give MacRumors readers a look at the bezel-free display and pop-up camera, both of which are great smartphone features.

The OnePlus 7 Pro is all display, with a 6.67-inch OLED screen that takes up the entire front of the device. There are no camera cutouts or notches on the display at all, and that's because OnePlus is using a nifty little front-facing camera that pops out of the back of the phone when you want to use it.

It's a feature that's unique to the OnePlus device, and it allows for an edge-to-edge top-to-bottom bezel-free display without sacrificing the selfie camera. The little pop out camera seems rather durable, though we'll have to see how it holds up over time.

OnePlus uploaded a video demonstrating the camera opening and closing more than 300,000 times (it's 12 hours long!) and another video that demonstrated it lifting up a rock, so it certainly seems to be able to hold up to abuse.

Though it's got a 6.67-inch display, the OnePlus 7 Pro is similar in size to the iPhone XS Max, just because there's no bezels to deal with. The display does curve around the edges of the device, which some may not like, but it looks undeniably good.

OnePlus calls the display a "Fluid AMOLED" display because it has a 90Hz refresh rate, a concept similar to the 120Hz refresh rate on the iPad Pro models. That refresh rate is more noticeable on a smaller device, and scrolling through the OS is super smooth.

Aside from the standout display and the unique pop-up front-facing camera, the OnePlus 7 Pro has some pretty decent specs. There's a triple-lens camera with telephoto, wide-angle, and ultra wide-angle lenses, an under-display fingerprint sensor, a Snapdragon 855 chip, up to 12GB RAM, up to 256GB storage, a 4,000mAh battery, and a fast charging feature.

On the downside, the OnePlus 7 Pro doesn't offer wireless charging like many other smartphones on the market, nor does it have an Ingress Protection rating for water resistance. And of course there's one other major downside for Apple fans -- it runs Android.

OnePlus is charging more for this year's flagship OnePlus smartphone, and the 7 Pro is priced starting at $669. That's still quite a bit cheaper than the iPhone XS and flagship smartphones from other companies like Samsung, even though it's using some pretty high-end hardware.

What do you think of the OnePlus 7 Pro and the pop-up selfie cam? Let us know in the comments. We'll be taking a closer look at the OnePlus 7 Pro and comparing it to the iPhone XS Max in a future video, so keep an eye out for that.

Over the course of the last week or so, multiple Warner Bros movies that were previously available in 4K have reverted to HD, a change that applies to new purchases from iTunes as well as previously purchased movies.

There are complaints about the change both on Twitter and on the Blu-ray forums, as highlighted by 9to5Mac this afternoon. There are quite a few titles that have reverted from 4K to HD, including all of the Harry Potter movies.

A Blu-ray forums user compiled a list of the known titles that have recently been downgraded from 4K to HD.

• 22 Jump Street (2014)
• About Last Night
• Aloha (2015)
• American Sniper
• Annie (2014)
• Batman vs. Superman
• The Brothers Grimsby (2016)
• The Equalizer (2014)
• Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
• Ghostbusters II (1989)
• Goosebumps (2015)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (2011)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (2010)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
• Hercules (2014)
• Hitch (2005)
• Hotel Deluxe (2013)
• Matrix Reloaded
• The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
• Risen (2016)
• Spaceballs (1987)
• Taxi Driver (1976)
• Unforgiven (1993)
• The Walk (2015)
• X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

It's not clear why these movies are no longer available in 4K, but there have been instances where movies are downgraded to HD and then are later made available again in 4K, so we'll need to wait to see if that's the case here.

One Apple support representative said that the downgrade was due to changes implemented by Warner Bros, which could potentially be accurate as that's often a reason why 4K availability shifts, but Apple support representatives don't always have the most up to date information.

Apple has been offering 4K movie titles from a range of different movie studios since the launch of the Apple TV 4K.

Update: This issue may be resolved as it appears many of the movies that were downgraded to HD are once again available in 4K.

The Samsung Galaxy S10 and the new OnePlus 7 Pro are both flagship smartphones that are designed to compete with the iPhone XS Max, and to see how their LTE chips compare, PCMag teamed up with Cellular Insights to test the signal strength of the new devices.

Apple's iPhone XS Max is equipped with an XMM7560 modem chip from Intel, while the Galaxy S10 and the OnePlus 7 Pro are using Qualcomm's X24 modem, which theoretically offers better performance.

The Intel XMM7560 modem in the iPhone XS Max supports supports 5-carrier aggregation but offers 1Gb/s maximum theoretical data transfer speeds, while the Qualcomm X24 in the Galaxy S10 has max theoretical speeds of 2Gb/s (it uses 7-carrier aggregation) and the OnePlus 7 Pro has max theoretical speeds of 1.2Gb/s (lower because it uses 5-carrier aggregation like the iPhone).

In testing on LTE band 4 with good signal, there wasn't a lot of difference in performance between the iPhone XS Max, the newer smartphones from Samsung and OnePlus, and the LG V40, which PCMag added in because it was 2018's best performing phone in terms of cellular speed.

All of the smartphones performed similarly, but the Samsung Galaxy S10 did see some of the slowest speeds, and at peak signal, the iPhone XS came in behind the OnePlus 7 Pro and the LG V40.

In a test with poorer LTE signal, the iPhone XS Max saw the slowest speeds and was outperformed by all of the Qualcomm chips. The iPhone XS Max was quite a bit slower than the Galaxy S10 and the OnePlus 7 Pro specifically.

Starting in 2020, Apple is no longer going to use Intel chips and is instead going to transition to Qualcomm's 5G chips. Intel has decided that it's exiting the 5G smartphone modem chip business leaving Apple no choice but to rely on Qualcomm technology and perhaps some chips from Samsung.

Apple and Qualcomm recently settled a vicious legal battle which had seen Apple refusing to use Qualcomm chips. Because of the dispute, Apple used Intel chips in the 2018 iPhones, and is expected to continue to use Intel chips for the 2019 iPhones.

Though the legal battle is over, Apple isn't likely to have time to swap over to Qualcomm modem chips for the 2019 iPhones, and Intel has confirmed that it's going to continue to supply 4G chips to meet its current obligations.

Security researchers have discovered a new set of vulnerabilities that affect Intel chips dating back to 2011, including the chips that have been used in Apple devices.

As outlined by TechCrunch, "ZombieLoad," as it's being called, consists of four bugs that can allow hackers to exploit the design flaws in the chips to steal sensitive information directly from the processor.

These vulnerabilities are as serious as the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities that were discovered in early 2018 and take advantage of the same speculative execution process, which is designed to speed up data processing and performance.

A white paper shared by notable security researchers (including some who worked on Spectre and Meltdown) offers details on how ZombieLoad functions. [PDF]

While programs normally only see their own data, a malicious program can exploit the fill buffers to get hold of secrets currently processed by other running programs. These secrets can be user-level secrets, such as browser history, website content, user keys, and passwords, or system-level secrets, such as disk encryption keys.

The attack does not only work on personal computers but can also be exploited in the cloud.

ZombieLoad impacts almost every Intel computer dating back to 2011, but AMD and ARM chips are not affected. A demonstration of ZombieLoad was shared on YouTube, displaying how it works to see what you're doing on your computer. While spying on web browsing is demoed, it can also be used for other purposes like stealing passwords.

There have been no reports of hackers taking advantage of the ZombieLoad vulnerabilities at this time, and Intel has released microcode for vulnerable processors. Apple addressed the vulnerability in the macOS Mojave 10.14.5 update that was released yesterday and in security patches for older versions of macOS that were also released yesterday.

Apple has released security updates in macOS Mojave 10.14.5 to protect against speculative execution vulnerabilities in Intel CPUs.
The issues addressed by these security updates do not affect Apple iOS devices or Apple Watch.
Apple previously released security updates to defend against Spectre—a series of speculative execution vulnerabilities affecting devices with ARM-based and Intel CPUs. Intel has disclosed additional Spectre vulnerabilities, called Microarchitectural Data Sampling (MDS), that apply to desktop and notebook computers with Intel CPUs, including all modern Mac computers.

An Apple support document on the ZombieLoad vulnerability provides details for "full mitigation" protection that can be enabled for customers with computers at heightened risk or that run untrusted software on their Macs.

Full mitigation requires using the Terminal app to enable additional CPU instructions and disable hyper-threading processing technology, which is available for macOS Mojave, High Sierra, and Sierra, but not on certain older machines. Apple says full mitigation could reduce performance by up to 40 percent, so most users will not want to enable it.

According to Intel, its microcode updates will have an impact on processor performance, but for the patch that Apple released in macOS Mojave 10.14.5, there was no measurable performance impact. Apple's fix prevents the exploitation of ZombieLoad vulnerabilities via JavaScript in Safari.

An Intel spokesperson told TechCrunch that most patched consumer devices could take a 3 percent performance hit at worst, and as much as 9 percent in a datacenter environment. But, the spokesperson said, it was unlikely to be noticeable in most scenarios.

As mentioned above, customers who enable Apple's full mitigation option will indeed see processor slowdowns because of the need to disable hyper-threading.

One of the researchers who discovered ZombieLoad, Daniel Gruss, told TechCrunch that ZombieLoad is easier to exploit than Spectre, but more difficult than Meltdown, and that it requires a specific set of skills, which means the average person doesn't need to worry.

Update: This article previously said that Apple would release a patch, but it has been updated to clarify that Apple addressed the issue in security updates made available to Mac owners yesterday. Customers running Mojave should update to macOS 10.14.5, while customers running older versions of macOS should install any available security updates.

Last week, Japanese blog Mac Otakara claimed that the 2019 version of the iPhone XR will be available in new Green and Lavender colors, with the existing Blue and Coral colors to be discontinued. White, Black, Yellow, and (PRODUCT)RED will continue to be offered, according to the report.

Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman has since tweeted a photo of what appears to be shards of casing glass for the next-generation iPhone XR in a variety of colors, including lavender, green, white, black, and yellow.

Based on this information, we've mocked up what the next iPhone XR lineup could look like, including a comparison with the current colors. Our renders include a dual-lens rear camera in a square bump, as rumored for the next iPhone XR, but otherwise the device looks similar to the current generation.

Apple should unveil the next iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR in September as usual. A recent survey found that the iPhone XR remained the best-selling iPhone model last quarter in the United States.

Apple recently lowered direct trade-in values for iPhones, providing customers with a maximum of $349 when trading in an iPhone without purchasing a new one at the same time.

Apple used to offer a maximum of $500 when doing a direct iPhone trade-in through its trade-in website, and just a few weeks ago, we tested trading in an iPhone X and were offered $500 by Apple. Today, Apple's maximum price for the same iPhone X is $349.

Not all iPhones were worth $500, but for newer models in good condition, Apple was indeed providing credit up to $500 in the form of an Apple gift card that could be put towards a new device purchase.

The $349 maximum seems to apply only to direct trade-ins that don't involve a purchase. If you use the trade-in process while purchasing a new iPhone, which puts the cost of that trade-in towards the new device, you can get higher prices.

That same iPhone X that's worth $349 when doing a direct trade-in with Apple is worth $450 if you trade it in while buying a new iPhone XR. At $450, Apple is still offering less than the $500 maximum iPhone trade-in value that was available before, but it's still better than the $349 that's available through the trade-in site.

On its trade-in site, Apple heavily promoted a $449 trade-in price for the iPhone XR when trading in an iPhone 8 or iPhone 7 Plus, but now the advertised pricing is $479 instead of $449. Listed iPhone XR and XS pricing with trade-in has gone up across the board as Apple has dropped trade-in values for all iPhones.

With Apple's direct trade-in pricing drops, Apple is no longer offering some of the best iPhone trade-in pricing, and it may not be worth an iPhone trade-in through Apple unless it's done when you're purchasing a new iPhone.

If you do a trade-in while purchasing a new device, you can get up to $450 for an iPhone X, up to $350 for an iPhone 8 Plus, up to $270 for an iPhone 8 or 7 Plus, and up to $200 for an iPhone 7 or 6s Plus. Other devices have trade-in values below $200.

Apple has a prominent section on all iPhone purchase pages that asks "Do you have an iPhone to trade in?" and if you select yes, you can go through the steps to get the upgraded pricing.

Trade-in pricing on other devices has also dropped. Apple now offers a maximum of $367 for tablet trade-ins, up to $965 when trading in a computer, and up to $173 when trading in an Apple Watch. That's down from $405 for tablets, $1100 for computers, and $191 for an Apple Watch. Trade-in values do not differ on non-iPhone products between the trade-in site and a trade-in with purchase.

The new trade-in pricing system is confusing and could potentially lead to some customers getting lower value for their iPhones if they're not aware of the disparity in pricing between doing a direct trade-in through Apple's trade-in page and doing a trade-in when purchasing a new iPhone.

Apple's new direct trade-in pricing is comparative to trade-in pricing from other sites like Gazelle, but you're always going to get the best price selling direct on a site like eBay or Swappa.

Apple Pay is now an accepted payment method for iTunes, App Store, and Apple Books purchases, as well as Apple Music and iCloud storage subscriptions, as reflected in a recently updated Apple support document.

To link any credit or debit cards set up in the Wallet app with your Apple ID account, navigate to Settings > iTunes & ‌App Store‌. Next, select your ‌Apple ID‌ email and then tap View ‌Apple ID‌ > Manage Payments > Add Payment Method. The cards should be listed under a new "Found in Wallet" section.

This functionality is rolling out as a server-side change in the United States, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates, so it is not available for all users yet.

In the United States, users can also link an ‌Apple Pay‌ Cash card to an ‌Apple ID‌ account.

There are a handful of benefits to ‌Apple Pay‌ billing for ‌Apple ID‌ account-tied purchases, including the ability to conveniently add multiple credit or debit cards, the improved security of ‌Apple Pay‌, and the ability to better manage ‌Apple Music‌ and ‌iCloud‌ storage subscriptions from the Wallet app.

This functionality arrives ahead of the launch of the Apple Card credit card in the United States this summer.

(Thanks, Dean Lubaki!)