MacRumors

Some iPad Pro owners who have 2017 and 2018 models have increasingly been running into issues with screen stuttering, based on a slew of threads on the Apple Support communities and the MacRumors forums.

Affected users have ‌iPad Pro‌ models that sometimes refuse to register touch gestures, stutter when scrolling, miss keystrokes, and have other similar issues. We here at MacRumors have not been able to replicate this issue, but the sheer number of complaints suggests something may be going on with the ‌iPad Pro‌'s display.

MacRumors reader Flasch describes the issue he had with his ‌iPad Pro‌ right out of the box:

I bought a new 12.9" iPad pro on the first available day last Wednesday. The o, k, and to a lesser extent i and j keys on the on-screen software keyboard consistently recognized touch with a click and change in colour of the key but the letter would often not appear in any program. For o in particular, it often required several attempts to make the letter register.

Spent time on the phone with apple and they didn't have a solution. A full restore to factory settings didn't help.

I returned it to the store today and picked up a new 12.9" iPad pro. Brought it home and this one is worse. Ofter 5 or more presses of o or k to get it to register. When the iPad is turned clockwise to landscape mode, the q and w are then in the same region of the device and they don't work either. Seven presses of the q before a letter appeared on the screen. It seems the bottom right of the touchscreen has an issue.

Other ‌iPad Pro‌ users are having the same issue with touchscreen unresponsiveness, which can also impact scrolling and general usage. From MacRumors reader Codeseven:

Newest 12.9'" iPad Pro, 1 TB/6 Gb model running iOS 12.1.3., no Screen Protector applied. Seems to occur on all areas of the screen.

Screen freezes. Started cropping up just in the last few weeks, seems to be getting worse. Reacts as though the screen was very dirty or my finger isn't contacting then screen completely. Interestingly, the freeze will sometimes stop when the iPad is changed from any angle to level. Also, sometimes if allot of finger pressure is used then the freeze is gone.

The problem appears to be primarily impacting new 2018 ‌iPad Pro‌ models, though there have also been complaints from some 2016 and 2017 ‌iPad Pro‌ owners.

A video demonstrating the stuttering issue

MacRumors reader Roger, who let us know about the issue, says that after approximately a month, his 2018 ‌iPad Pro‌ had issues with scrolling and wouldn't register input. He was able to get a replacement, as were many other customers who have experienced this issue, but he said that the replacement model has also been exhibiting the same issues.

It's not clear if this is a software or a hardware issue, and there are certainly many 2017 and 2018 ‌iPad Pro‌ models out there that have no problems like this at all, which makes it difficult to determine what's going on. Some of the issues with the 2017 model appear to have started with the release of iOS 11.3, but have persisted through software updates. Many users who are running iOS 12.2 are still reporting problems.

Some users have noticed that the stuttering problem goes away on the 2018 models when the Apple Pencil 2 is attached to the iPad, perhaps suggestive of an Apple Pencil-related connectivity issue.

On the whole, though, it's not clear what's causing issues for ‌iPad Pro‌ owners who are having touchscreen responsiveness problems. Anyone with an unresponsive touchscreen should bring it into an Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Repair Shop for service as some users have been able to get replacement units.

Apple today updated its Clips app for the iPhone and the iPad to introduce new posters, new title and caption options, updated stickers, a camcorder filter, and more.

The Clips app, for those unfamiliar with it, is a video editing app that's designed to let users combine video clips, images, and photos with voice-based titles, music, filters, and graphics to create unique videos that can be shared on social media.

Apple has added a new camcorder filter that's designed to introduce a retro video camera look for your videos, and there are eight new poster background options with colorful vintage designs, a camcorder recording screen, and an animated globe in honor of earth day.

You can create titles and captions using three newly introduced Live Titles styles, and there are new 8-bit and 3D stickers you can add to your videos. Songs created in GarageBand or other music apps can be added to your Clips projects, and there's now ClassKit support to allow students to deliver video assignments to teachers through the Schoolwork app. Full release notes are below:

- Use the new camcorder filter to give your videos a retro video camera look
- Choose from 8 new posters including options with solid backgrounds, colorful vintage designs, a classic blue camcorder recording screen, and an animated globe to celebrate Earth Day.
- Create titles and captions with 3 new Live Titles styles featuring static text that appears all at once or animated text that highlights each word as it's spoken
- Apply new 8-bit and 3D-styled stickers to add emphasis to your videos
- Create songs in GarageBand and other music apps, then add them directly to new or existing Clips projects
- Duplicate and rename projects
- Share projects with friends via AirDrop or email, save them to Files, or upload them to cloud storage service with share extensions
- ClassKit support lets students deliver video assignments to teachers using the Schoolwork app

Apple first released clips in early 2017 and has since updated it multiple times. Clips is compatible with the iPhone 5s and later, the original iPad Air and later, and the iPad mini 2 and later. Style transfer effects require the iPhone 7 or 2017 iPad Pro or later, while Selfie Scenes require an iPhone or ‌iPad Pro‌ with TrueDepth Camera.

Clips can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

iFixit today shared a teardown of the new iPad mini, confirming specs and providing some additional details about the component parts of Apple's smallest fifth-generation tablet, which is compatible with the first-gen Apple Pencil.

iFixit notes that the only exterior clue that distinguishes the new iPad mini from the earlier model is its model number, A2133, and the removal of regulatory markings on the back, which can now be found in software.

Inside, the new mini has an 8-megapixel rear camera and inherits the 7-megapixel ƒ/2.2 front-facing camera setup that first appeared in the 10.5-inch iPad Pro, offering a big step up from the 1.2-megapixel sensor in the ‌iPad mini‌ 4.

Other changes in evidence include a faster A12 Bionic processor, 3GB of RAM (up from 2GB), True Tone sensors, a migrated set of microphones now centered near the front-facing camera, and a different battery type in the ‌iPad mini‌ 5, although its 19.32 Wh rating matches that offered by the previous ‌iPad mini‌.

Like the iPad Air (iFixit teardown due tomorrow), the ‌iPad mini‌ features two speakers for stereo sound, dual microphones, Bluetooth 5.0, WiFi 802.11ac, Gigabit class LTE on cellular models, and eSIM technology.

While many components are modular and can be replaced independently, iFixit notes that gobs of adhesive hold many parts and cables in place, including the Home button, complicating all repairs. Replacing the battery is also said to be possible, but still unnecessarily difficult. As a result, ‌iPad mini‌ earns an iFixit repairability score of 2/10.

Apple plans to launch a trio of OLED iPhones next year that includes smaller and larger-sized models than the current crop of Apple's flagship smartphones, according to sources from Taiwan's supply chain.

DigiTimes reports this morning that Apple will release three OLED iPhones in 2020 available in 5.42-, 6.06- and 6.67-inch sizes.

Meanwhile DigiTimes' sources indicate that, as expected, this year's three models will follow the screen technologies and sizes of 2018 iPhones; namely, two OLED models with 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch screens, and a 6.1-inch LCD model.

In a noteworthy tidbit coming out Taiwan's handset component supply chain, the smallest iPhone model coming in 2020 will reportedly include Samsung or LG touchscreen tech that will allow Apple to make the display of the phone thinner than on previous handsets.

Additionally, the 5.42-inch model to be released in 2020 may come with either Samsung Display's Y-Octa or LG Display's TOE touch technology, indicated the sources, noting that both touch solutions promises to trim down the display cost.

Y-Octa is an advanced flexible AMOLED display technology that removes the film substrate and allows the touch circuit to be directly patterned on the film's encapsulation layer, making the display thinner, indicated the sources.

According to ‌DigiTimes‌' sources, Samsung will maintain its dominance as the main OLED panel supplier for Apple next year, while it remains to be seen whether LG or BOE Technology can gain OLED panel orders from the company.

The same supply chain sources estimate that Apple will ship between 80 and 82 million iPhones in the first half of this year and around 180-190 million units for all of 2019.

Previous rumors suggest 2020 iPhones will feature triple-lens rear camera arrangements, improved photo capturing tools, and more powerful processors. Bloomberg has suggested it could be a prelude to an AR headset, and past rumors have indicated Apple could launch that device as early as 2020.

Bragi, a company known for making some of the first wire-free headphones to compete with the AirPods, has exited the wearables market, reports Wareable.

Bragi says that its product business has been sold to a third-party buyer and that while it will continue to license its IP and artificial intelligence, it will no longer be making new devices.

From the company's CEO:

"Bragi's technology suite is applied beyond our own products to partners and headphone brands. The Dash Pro featured groundbreaking ultra efficient AI and software that could be updated with new features such as Amazon Alexa, language translation and personalised hearing. With the sale of our product business, Bragi has completed its transformation into a software, AI and IP licensing company."

The first wire-free headphones from Bragi, The Dash, debuted on Kickstarter in 2014. The company raised millions, and ahead of when the AirPods launched, Bragi announced an AirPods competitor, "The Headphone."

The Headphone was a cheaper version of The Dash designed specifically to compete with the AirPods, but Apple's AirPods were a major hit with Apple customers and we heard little else from Bragi after the launch of the Headphone and a follow up to the Dash called the Dash Pro. Bragi's products were decent, but were never quite able to measure up to the AirPods.

All products were out of stock on Bragi's website as of January 2019, though Bragi's CEO did not initially admit to the imminent closure of the company.

Bragi did not unveil who purchased the rights to its headphones products, but said Bragi customers who own Bragi devices will continue to be able to access support.

Apple was desperate to secure deals with The Washington Post or The New York Times for its recently announced Apple News+ service but was ultimately unable to persuade them to sign up despite a "vigorous courtship," according to a new report from Vanity Fair.

Shortly after Apple's Texture deal last spring, Apple began discussions with the two news sites, putting a "tremendous" amount of pressure on them and promising to significantly increase their readership.

"Eddy Cue was in and out of their offices really trying to woo them." Cue's elevator pitch, according to people familiar with the discussions, was, "We'll make you the most-read newspaper in the world."

Apple was aiming for access to the full content from the two newspapers, rather than a pared down offering or a selection of stories on a specific set of topics. Apple is said to have not wanted "limitations in terms of content."

Neither The New York Times nor The Washington Post could be convinced to join ‌Apple News‌+. Both publications have successful online subscription offerings already. The New York Times charges $15 per month for a basic digital subscription, while The Washington Post charges $10. The newspapers get to keep 100 percent of the revenue brought in by those subscriptions.

Apple wanted to include full access to the content from the news sites for the $9.99 per month asking price of ‌Apple News‌+. According to prior reports, Apple keeps 50 percent of the subscription revenue for ‌Apple News‌+ and splits the other 50 percent among publishers based on how much time is spent consuming their content.

If The New York Times and The Washington Post joined ‌Apple News‌+, their existing subscribers would have little reason to keep paying them $10 to $15 per month instead of paying the $9.99 subscription to ‌Apple News‌+, which would also include other news content and magazines. Apple believes its huge subscriber base would ultimately bring more readers to the news sites, but neither newspaper was swayed by that argument.

Meredith Kopit Levin, the chief operating officer for The New York Times, told Vanity Fair that the newspaper wants to have a direct relationship with its readers.

"We've been pretty deliberate about saying that the best place you can experience journalism is through a relationship with a news provider. So far for us, that has meant a direct relationship with users. The more we have a relationship with users, the better we think our business will be, and the better the experience that we can provide to them."

A spokesperson for The Washington Post said that the paper's focus is on growing its own subscription base, which meant joining ‌Apple News‌+ "just did not make sense" at the current time.

While Apple was not able to secure deals with either The Washington Post nor The New York Times, it did ink a deal with The Wall Street Journal. The full content from The ‌Wall Street Journal‌ is unlocked for ‌Apple News‌+ subscribers even though a standard subscription starts at $19.49 per month for the first year, after which it goes up to $38.99.

There are caveats, though. A limited selection of general news and opinion pieces are promoted through ‌Apple News‌+, and other content from The ‌Wall Street Journal‌ must be manually searched for. ‌Apple News‌+ also only provides three days worth of archives from The ‌Wall Street Journal‌.

According to Vanity Fair, The ‌Wall Street Journal‌ has less to lose than other news sites. Its main subscriber base consists of corporate accounts and "high net-worth individuals" interested in business and finance news rather than the more general news content that will be promoted via ‌Apple News‌+.

Apple has also secured deals with hundreds of magazines, and much of ‌Apple News‌+ comprises access to magazines like National Geographic, Vogue, The New Yorker, and other high profile titles. Magazines also have less to lose than digital sites already offering subscriptions as most don't have established digital subscription businesses.

Publications that do not have large audiences paying for digital access each month have the potential to be more successful with ‌Apple News‌, but for sites like The New York Times and The Washington Post, there's a real risk that joining would cannibalize existing subscribers.

It's not yet clear if ‌Apple News‌+ will ultimately be successful for Apple's media partners, and it's possible that if it is, news sites that have declined joining will do so in the future.

For more on ‌Apple News‌+, make sure to check out our full guide on the subscription service.

Apple's 2019 iPhones are going to have a two-way wireless charging feature that will allow the iPhone to charge other devices like the AirPods, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo again confirmed in a report sent out to investors today.

Kuo previously mentioned the feature briefly in a February note, and today he goes into a bit more depth about the suppliers who will benefit from the feature.

Two-way wireless charging, or bilateral charging, will let the Qi-based iPhones coming in 2019 charge another iPhone or the new AirPods with Wireless Charging Case. You'll essentially be able to charge any Qi-based device with your iPhone, as it will work as a wireless charger itself. From Kuo:

We expect the new 2H19 iPhone models will support two-way wireless charging. Though the iPhone is not the first high-end smartphone to be equipped with two-way wireless charging, this new function could make it more convenient for users to charge the new AirPods and create a better integrated user experience of the iPhone and AirPods.

This is a feature that Samsung has already debuted in its 2019 Galaxy smartphones, and in those devices, it's known as Wireless PowerShare. Wireless PowerShare allows the 2019 Galaxy smartphones to charge other Qi-based accessories, including the iPhone.

According to Kuo, suppliers such as Compeq (will supply battery boards) and STMicro (will supply two-way wireless charging controller) stand to benefit from Apple's inclusion of two-way wireless charging as it will increase the average selling price of key components.

To accommodate two-way wireless charging, Kuo believes battery boards included in 2019 iPhones will increase in size, as will battery pack capacity. Kuo says that battery capacities for the 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max successor could increase by 10 to 15 percent, while the battery capacity of the 5.8-inch OLED iPhone XS successor could grow by 20 to 25 percent. The iPhone XR successor isn't expected to see much of a gain, though, with Kuo predicting growth of 0 to 5 percent.

Apple has lowered the prices of several products in China this week, including the latest iPhones, iPads, and AirPods.

As noted by CNBC, the iPhone XR now starts at 6199 RMB on Apple's online store in China, nearly five percent lower than its previous 6499 RMB price tag. The higher-end iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max models each received a 500 RMB price cut as well and now start at 8,199 RMB and 9,099 RMB respectively.

Likewise, the second-generation AirPods with the standard Lightning charging case now start at 1,246 RMB, down slightly from 1,279 RMB, and the 11-inch iPad Pro has been discounted to 6,331 RMB from 6,499 RMB previously.

The price cuts appear to be due in part to a reduction in China's value-added tax (VAT) that went into effect today to help boost the economy there, but regardless of the reason, any price cut could be good news for Apple as it seeks to bolster sales in China.

Last quarter, Apple issued its first revenue warning in 16 years due to "fewer iPhone upgrades" than it anticipated and "significantly greater" than expected economic weakness in the Greater China region. Apple already discounted iPhone prices at third-party resellers in China to improve results.