MacRumors

Apple's Beats brand today officially announced the new Powerbeats Pro Wireless Earphones, which, like the AirPods, are wire-free and come with a charging case, but feature up to nine hours of listening time.

The Powerbeats Pro are going to cost $250, and Apple says they are coming in May. According to Apple, the ‌Powerbeats Pro‌ deliver "powerful, balanced sound with dynamic range and noise isolation for a premium listening experience."

"Powerbeats Pro is a harmonious blend of premium sound, fit and functionality. Powerbeats are already the #1 fitness headphones in the world and they are now untethered, with all the benefits of the Apple H1 chip," said Luke Wood, president of Beats. "No longer do you have to choose between performance and practicality--it delivers the best on both fronts."

To get an ideal fit for most people, Apple tested more than 20 configurations to arrive at an "ergonomically angled housing" designed to nest "comfortably in the concha bowl of the ear with an off-axis nozzle." Apple says ‌Powerbeats Pro‌ are 23 percent smaller and 17 percent lighter than the Powerbeats 3.

There are physical controls on each earbud, with a dedicated volume buttons for adjusting the volume, and a button for answering and declining phone calls and changing the track that's currently playing. Like the AirPods, the ‌Powerbeats Pro‌ automatically detect when they're in your ears and can play/pause music accordingly.

The ‌Powerbeats Pro‌ come in their own clamshell-style charging case, which adds over 24 hours of combined playback with the nine hours of listening time that you get from each earbud. There's a 5-minute Fast Fuel feature that provides up to 1.5 hours of playback in five minutes.

Apple says the ‌Powerbeats Pro‌ use "Class 1 Bluetooth technology" for extended range and fewer dropouts, and the H1 chip that's in the second-generation AirPods is also in the ‌Powerbeats Pro‌.

Apple is making the ‌Powerbeats Pro‌ available in four colors: Black, Ivory, Moss, and Navy. The ‌Powerbeats Pro‌ launch in May in US and more than 20 additional countries and regions, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

Apple has started marketing its Powerbeats Pro earphones ahead of their upcoming release with a pair of ads in Hollywood.

A banner ad and nearby billboard reveal that the ‌Powerbeats Pro‌ will be "totally wireless," as expected, making them the first cord-free Beats earphones like AirPods. A photo of the ad was tipped to 9to5Mac, which earlier uncovered an image of the Powerbeats Pro and their charging case hidden in iOS 12.2 code.

CNET also said the ‌Powerbeats Pro‌ will likely use the same H1 chip as the second-generation AirPods, potentially enabling "Hey Siri" support along with faster switching between source devices like the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.

Verizon today announced it has turned on its commercial 5G network, starting in select areas of Minneapolis and Chicago. Verizon had originally targeted an April 11 launch, so the rollout is a week ahead of schedule.

Verizon customers can access the 5G network with the Moto Z3 smartphone paired with the 5G-enabled Moto Mod accessory, providing the "world's first commercial 5G mobile service with a 5G-enabled smartphone." The carrier plans to expand the network to more than 30 cities across the U.S. by the end of 2019.

Verizon says customers in Chicago and Minneapolis should expect typical download speeds of 450 Mbps, with peak speeds of nearly 1 Gbps and latency less than 30 milliseconds. Of course, speeds should improve with future upgrades.

In Chicago, 5G coverage is concentrated in areas of the West Loop and the South Loop, around landmarks like Union Station, Willis Tower, The Art Institute of Chicago, Millennium Park, and The Chicago Theatre, according to Verizon. 5G service is also available at select Verizon stores in the city.

In Minneapolis, service is concentrated in the downtown area, as well as inside and around U.S. Bank Stadium. 5G service is also available around landmarks like the Minneapolis Convention Center, the Minneapolis Central Library, the Mill City Museum, Target Center, The Commons, and areas of Elliot Park.

The Moto Z3 retails for $240, or 24 monthly payments of $10, while the 5G Moto Mod is available for $199.99 for a limited time. Verizon postpaid customers with any unlimited plan, including Go Unlimited, Beyond Unlimited, or Above Unlimited, can get unlimited 5G data for an additional $10 per month.

As for the first 5G-enabled iPhone, UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri recently said there is "increasing potential that Apple may not be able to ship a 5G iPhone for 2020" due to the company's legal battle with chipmaker Qualcomm and the growing possibility that Intel may not have a 5G modem ready to ship by next year.

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

The iPad Air is identical in size and thickness to the 2017 10.5-inch iPad Pro, and just a bit lighter weight. iFixit notes that outwardly, the only design differences include a new, darker Space Gray color, the absence of a camera bump, and two speakers compared to the ‌iPad Pro‌'s four. The new model number is A2152.

Opening the ‌iPad Air‌ up reveals an internal layout and central logic board similar to Apple's 2017 ‌iPad Pro‌ range. The dual-celled 30.8 Wh battery is a little bigger than the 30.2 Wh Apple advertises on its site, and a provides a step up from the 27.6 Wh battery in the 2014 ‌iPad Air‌ 2. Battery life is advertised as up to 10 hours.

Meanwhile, Apple's A12 Bionic processor is layered over 3GB of RAM, and iFixit confirms the rear camera remains at 8 megapixels.

Otherwise, as iFixit notes, the size is similar, the Pencil support is similar, and the chips are similar to the old 10.5-inch ‌iPad Pro‌. However, the Air lacks the latter's ProMotion 120 Hz technology that's now exclusive to the 2018 11-inch and 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌. ProMotion automatically adjusts the display to the movement of the content, for fluid scrolling, greater responsiveness and smoother motion.

The new ‌iPad Air‌ is harder to take apart than the late 10.5-inch ‌iPad Pro‌, since it lacks the latter's stretch-release adhesive pull tabs and includes extra adhesive near the top of the screen. As such, iFixit gives the new ‌iPad Air‌ a 2/10 for repairability, the same score the new iPad mini earned in yesterday's teardown.

Japan Display will supply the OLED screens for this year's new Apple Watch model, according to a new Reuters report out today.

Japan Display Inc will begin to supply organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens for the Apple Watch later this year, two sources said, a breakthrough for the cash-strapped company whose late shift to OLED has cost it orders from Apple.

The supply deal would mark Japan Display’s foray into the OLED display market, the two sources familiar with the matter said, declining to be identified because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

The development comes as particularly good news for the liquid crystal display panel supplier, which relied on Apple for more than half of its revenue in the year ended March 2018, and whose mainstay LCD business has been hit heavily by Apple's recent shift away from LCD.

There have been reports of less-than-stellar sales of iPhone XR, which uses LCD. It's also rumored that Apple could drop LCD displays for its 2020 iPhones in favor of an all-OLED line-up. As a result, Japan Display has been seeking investor help that will put it on firmer ground before the switch takes place.

Reuters reported on Monday that Japan Display aims to raise as much as $990 million in new financing as early as this week.

Apple has been working to bolster its OLED display supply chain cut down its reliance on Samsung, which supplies displays for the iPhone X, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max. It has reportedly pushed LG Display to build out its OLED display production facilities, and has even purchased equipment to build an OLED panel research and development site in Taiwan.

Today's report offers little clue as to what the switch to Japan Display OLED screens could mean for the next Apple Watch, save for a note that newer OLED technology is generally thinner and allows more flexibility than LCD screens. For the Apple Watch Series 4, Apple upgraded the display panel to a larger LTPO (Low Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide) OLED Retina Display, which means it is more efficient and consumes less power for better battery life.

According to reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the Apple Watch Series 5, coming in September 2019, will feature a new ceramic casing design, suggesting a possible return of the Apple Watch Edition.

Other rumors suggest a future version of the Apple Watch will adopt solid state buttons that don't physically click but instead provide haptic feedback to users when the buttons are touched. Apple introduced haptic feedback for the Digital Crown in the Series 4, and haptic feedback could potentially extend to the side button.

Apple this afternoon shared a humorous new video on its YouTube channel focusing on using Apple products at work.

The spot kicks off with a design team that has just a few days to come up with a round pizza box prototype for an important meeting, which they manage to pull off using Apple's iPhones, iPads, and laptops. The round pizza box in the video is the actual pizza box patented by Apple and used at the Caffé Macs cafeteria for Apple employees in Cupertino.

The Apple Pencil is used for design purposes, as are the iWork apps on Macs and Microsoft's suite of apps. The video ends with the tagline "This is Apple at work," and the description links to Apple's business site with more information on the apps and services in the video.

Apple products help employees work more simply and productively, solve problems creatively, and collaborate with a shared purpose. And they're all designed to work together beautifully. When people have the power to work the way they want, with the tools they love, they can do their best work and change the future of their business.

Apple has shared multiple iPad Pro videos in the past, but this is the first ‌iPad‌ and Mac focused video that's been aimed at Apple's enterprise customers.

Upwards of 200,000 iPhone, iPad, and Mac users signed up for an Apple News+ subscription following the service's March 25 launch, reports The New York Times.

The number comes from two unnamed sources who provided the figures to The New York Times and asked not to be named.

That's more than Texture, the service ‌Apple News‌+ was based on, had during its peak. Apple purchased Texture in 2018 and is shutting it down at the end of May now that ‌Apple News‌+ has launched.

‌Apple News‌+ provides access to more than 200 magazines as well as paywalled news from The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and a few other news publications.

Apple is going to be charging $9.99 per month for ‌Apple News‌+, but those who subscribed following the event have a 30-day free trial. There are still more than three weeks before customers will be charged, and many may be planning to cancel ahead of when the trial expires.

It's still not clear how popular ‌Apple News‌+ will be once that trial period runs out, but many magazines are hoping for the best. Pamela Wassserstein, CEO of New York Media, said that she felt ‌Apple News‌+ would allow New York magazine, The Cut, and Vulture to reach a "new audience" in an environment that "feels right."

Apple takes 50 percent of the subscription price from ‌Apple News‌+, and will be providing the rest to its publishing partners. Media companies will receive an amount based on the amount of time readers are devoting to their content.

This revenue split has been controversial and while many magazines have signed up because Texture worked in a similar way, Apple has been unable to woo major newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Apple in March introduced a refresh for its 21.5 and 27-inch 4K and 5K iMac models, which did not receive an update in 2018. The new ‌iMac‌ models feature the same design as the previous models, but have upgraded internals, including 8th and 9th-generation Coffee Lake processors from Intel.

In our latest video, we checked out the 27-inch 5K ‌iMac‌ with 16GB RAM, a 512GB SSD, Radeon Pro Vega 48 graphics, and the high-end 3.6GHz 8-core 9th-generation Core i9 Coffee Lake processor.

The 2019 21.5 and 27-inch iMacs continue to feature a slim 5mm display, aluminum stand, aluminum border at the bottom of the machine and relatively thick top and side bezels.

Both ‌iMac‌ sizes feature two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports, four USB-A ports, an SD card slot, a headphone jack, and an Ethernet port, with support for one 5K display or two 4K displays. On the 27-inch model, RAM is user upgradeable through a slot in the back of the machine, so upgrading the RAM more affordably after purchase is an option.

The specific model that we tested uses Apple's highest-end ‌iMac‌ processor, the 9th-generation 8-core version from Intel. It's outfitted with 16GB RAM, a Radeon Pro Vega 48 graphics card, and 512GB of storage, making it a higher-end option priced at $3,449 that's ideal for creatives and professionals who need a lot of processing and graphics power.

For work like video editing, intensive photo editing, 3D modeling, and other tasks, you're going to want the best processor and graphics card you can get as these elements are not upgradeable after purchase.

Based on benchmarks, Apple's new 2019 ‌iMac‌ models offer significant speed improvements over the prior 2017 models. Multi-core performance on the machine we tested is up to 66 percent faster, and while single-core gains aren't quite as impressive, it's still approximately 6 to 11 percent faster on average.

This particular high-end ‌iMac‌ with 8-core chip is actually comparable to the 2017 ‌iMac‌ Pro with a 10-core chip. In real-world testing, performance was impressive and the ‌iMac‌ was more than capable of handling our video editing workflow.

Whether or not the 2019 ‌iMac‌ is worth the upgrade depends on your current machine. If you're using a much older model you're going to see significant speed improvements with the latest processors, but compared to something like a 2017 ‌iMac‌, it's probably not worth shelling out the extra cash at this time because the processors are the bulk of what's new.

The 27-inch ‌iMac‌ that we tested is ideal for system-intensive workflows, but if you just need a machine for browsing the web, light photo editing, sending email, and other tasks, one of the more affordable 27-inch machines or even the smaller 21.5-inch iMacs will be a better pick.

If you're in the market for a new ‌iMac‌ and are trying to decide which one to get, make sure to check out our iMac Buyer's Guide.

What do you think of Apple's 2019 ‌iMac‌ refresh? Are you picking up a new machine? Let us know in the comments.

New Jersey resident Gina Priano-Keyser has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Apple this week in U.S. district court, accusing the company of fraudulent business practices and breach of warranty related to the Apple Watch, according to court documents accessed by MacRumors.

The plaintiff believes that Apple either knew or should have known that the Apple Watch models were defective before selling them, adding that they pose "a significant safety hazard to consumers" — a "number" of which have suffered "cuts and burns" as a result of the scratched, shattered, or detached screens.

Apple has acknowledged the possibility of swollen batteries in select Apple Watch models in the past, and offered free repairs up to three years after purchase. However, the complaint alleges that the company often attributes the issue to "accidental damage" and thus "refuses to cover repairs" under warranty.

Priano-Keyser states that she purchased an Apple Watch Series 3 in October 2017. In July 2018, while charging, she alleges that the screen "unexpectedly detached" from the watch's body and cracked. Her daughter "pushed the screen back into place," but the Apple Watch has been "unusable" ever since.

The plaintiff booked a Genius Bar appointment in August 2018, but upon inspection, she alleges that Apple denied to repair the Apple Watch free of charge under warranty and instead quoted her an out-of-warranty fee of $229 for service.

Priano-Keyser is seeking damages in an amount to be proven at trial for herself and all others similarly situated. The proposed class includes all residents of New Jersey who are current and former owners of all models and sizes of the Apple Watch Series 1, Series 2, and Series 3 purchased in New Jersey.

The complaint was filed by Shepherd, Finkelman, Miller & Shah, LLP, the same law firm that filed a nearly identical class action lawsuit regarding the swollen Apple Watch batteries in California back in June 2018. That case was tossed by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in January due to being "vague."

"Plaintiff's description of the alleged defect identifies only the consequences of the alleged defect (i.e., cracking, shattering, or detaching), but is notably silent on identifying the defect that causes such consequences," Judge Koh stated.

The lawsuit in New Jersey addresses this by attempting to identify a cause.

"Upon information and belief, the Defect is caused by aging or otherwise faulty li-on batteries, or by defective internal components of the Watches that regulate temperature, electrical currents, charging, and other mechanisms that could affect the Watches' li-on batteries," the complaint states.

It remains to be seen if the New Jersey case proceeds to trial or is also tossed.

Full complaint is embedded after the break…

➜ Click here to read rest of article...

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.

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]