This is a desk-filling display in the truest sense of the term: 37.5 inches on the diagonal with a 21:9 aspect ratio and a native resolution of 3840x1600. It has fewer pixels than a true 4K or Ultra HD display, but its sheer size makes up for it in some unique ways. While the UltraFine 5K and 27UD88 displays work best at Retina or scaled resolutions, the 38UC99 uses a full 3840x1600 desktop that leaves everything on screen at just the right size to be useful. No, it's not a Retina display in this mode, but until we have 8K displays this will have to do.
Even without Retina resolution, this display is impressive. The sheer size of it gives you so much flexibility in terms of your workspace. I can easily have three large windows open side-by-side with room to spare.
UltraFine 5K, 38UC99, 2016 MacBook Pro (left to right)
I've been testing this in a three-display setup with the new 15-inch MacBook Pro, an UltraFine 5K, and the 38UC99. It's a ridiculous amount of desktop space that I can barely fit on my desk, and the MacBook Pro with entry-level graphics runs all of it without breaking a sweat.
A customer that purchases a new iPhone now has up to one year to purchase AppleCare+ for the device, compared to 60 days previously, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. Apple has yet to update the fine print on its website, but MacRumors confirmed the extension with a senior AppleCare advisor.
The change means that AppleCare+ can now be added to an iPhone as long as the device remains within its standard one-year limited warranty period. This brings AppleCare+ for iPhone in line with AppleCare for Mac and Apple TV, which can also be purchased up to one year after those devices are purchased.
The senior advisor said the extension only applies to the iPhone, and it is retroactive, meaning iPhones sold within the past year qualify for AppleCare+ now. Multiple sources insist that the one-year AppleCare+ purchase window applies to the iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch as well, but we cannot confirm this info yet.
Apple's eligibility tool does appear to reflect the change for iPhones in the United States, but not in the United Kingdom, Canada, Hong Kong, or elsewhere, so it is possible the longer purchase window will be U.S. only. "Eligible for AppleCare+" did not appear for an iPad or Apple Watch in any country based on our check.
iPhone 7 Plus purchased on September 21, 2016 eligible for AppleCare+
AppleCare+ costs $129 for iPhone 6s and newer and $99 for iPhone SE. The plan extends an iPhone's warranty coverage to two years from the original purchase date of the device, and adds up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage, each subject to a service fee of $29 for screen damage, or $99 for any other damage.
AppleCare+ for iPhone also provides 24/7 priority access to AppleCare advisors via chat or phone for up to two years after the device's original purchase date. Without the plan, iPhone owners are covered by a limited one-year warranty and 90 days of complimentary telephone support.
AppleCare+ for iPhone also covers EarPods, Lightning to USB cables, and batteries that retain less than 80 percent of their original capacity.
In order to purchase AppleCare+ after the fact, separately from the iPhone, Apple must physically inspect the device to ensure there is no existing damage. Proof of purchase, such as a receipt, is also required. If purchased online, Apple requires customers to verify their serial number and run a remote diagnostic test.
Update: Apple appears to have reverted back to a 60-day purchase window for AppleCare+ for iPhone, as confirmed with a support representative.
In a series of tweets shared this morning, artist Chance the Rapper gave some insight into how Apple Music exclusives work for artists. His mixtape, Coloring Book, was an Apple Music exclusive for two weeks after it launched in 2016.
To garner exclusive rights to Coloring Book, Chance the Rapper says Apple paid him a total of $500,000 and funded a commercial designed to promote the new album. In exchange, Apple had sole access to offer Coloring Book for a two week period, at which point it became available on other music services.
Apple has done multiple exclusive launches since the debut of Apple Music in 2015, but until now, there's been very little insight into what Apple offers artists to entice them to offer up exclusives on the music service. Prior to now, both artists and Apple have kept deal terms tightly under wraps.
Apple has inked exclusive deals with a wide range of artists, from Drake and Taylor Swift to Frank Ocean, The Weeknd, and Katy Perry.
I wanna clear things up. @apple gave me half a mil and a commercial to post Coloring Book exclusively on applemusic for 2 weeks https://t.co/dMWwptrHHH
— Lil Chano From 79th (@chancetherapper) March 17, 2017
Labels and other streaming services have expressed displeasure with Apple's push for exclusive content, and one music group, UMG, has even banned its artists from agreeing to Apple Music exclusives. Apple Music rival Spotify has also allegedly punished artists who make deals with Apple, refusing to include them on featured playlists.
Chance the Rapper says he shared the info because he wants to "remain transparent." He went on to say artists can gain a lot from streaming wars by remaining in control of their own product (Chance the Rapper is not signed to a label). "If you come across opportunities to work with good people, pick up cash and keep your integrity, I say Do It," he wrote on Twitter in reference to Apple Music.
For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with ElevationLab to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win one of the company's new DraftTable accessories that's designed to work with the iPad Pro.
Priced at $99.95, the DraftTable is meant to serve as a stable, sturdy stand to be used with the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil for drawing, sketching, writing, game playing, movie watching, and more. It works with both the smaller 9.7-inch iPad Pro and the much larger 12.9-inch iPad Pro. While designed for the iPad Pro, it also works with older iPads in every size, down to the iPad mini.
DraftTable positions the iPad Pro more ergonomically to meet each user's needs. Its spring-loaded hinge can be adjusted to several different angles, and as the name suggests, it's ideal for use with iPad Pro drawing apps like Astropad as a replacement for a Wacom tablet, and it pairs well with an iPad tethered to a Mac.
DraftTable is made from a fiber reinforced polymer and laser cut steel for strength, and the iPad platform is constructed from a soft medical-grade silicone, so the iPad won't slip off the stand while in use.
ElevationLab's DraftTable has been specifically created for stability, so it's not going to move around, shake, or fall when writing or drawing. Because it folds down into a thin form factor for storage purposes, the DraftTable can be taken anywhere.
An included arm rest keeps the palm off of the iPad's screen when using it with the Apple Pencil, and it makes working for several hours at a time more comfortable, plus a silicone PencilStand gives you a place to keep your Apple Pencil so it never gets lost.
We have three DraftTables to give away to MacRumors readers. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winner and send the prize. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumorsFacebook page.
Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years of age or older are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.
The contest will run from today (March 17) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on March 24. The winners will be chosen randomly on March 24 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.
Last week, Apple added an indie games section to the App Store to promote the huge range of games made by smaller developers. As it turns out, the indie games section is a permanent addition to the App Store, and will be available indefinitely to help users discover new titles to play.
Indie adventure title Oxenfree has been named the editor's choice indie app of the week, and it is available for $3.99 (20 percent off) to celebrate its launch.
Also free this week is popular indie platformer Bean's Quest, which has been named Apple's App of the Week. It will be available for download at no cost until next Thursday. [Direct Link]
The addition of a dedicated indie games storefront in the App Store should make it easier for indie developers, who often struggle to compete with major game companies with unlimited funds, to have their games recognized and discovered by customers.
Indonesian carrier Smartfren has announced it will begin accepting iPhone 7 pre-orders on Friday, March 24. Pricing has not been disclosed, but customers can sign up on Smartfren's website to receive more information. In-store sales at select authorized resellers will begin on Friday, March 31.
While the iPhone 7 has been available in many other countries since September, the Indonesian government recently enacted a policy that requires 4G-capable smartphones to have at least 30 percent "local content," which can be hardware, software, or in this case, a commitment to invest in the country.
Apple satisfied the requirements of that policy when it committed around $44 million towards research and development in Indonesia over three years, which will include building an iOS App Development Center in the country. Apple received a "local content certification," allowing it to sell iPhones throughout Indonesia.
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were the last smartphones that Apple officially sold in Indonesia, according to local website Coconuts Jakarta.
Indonesia is the fourth most populated country in the world, with an estimated population of over 260 million people.
Philips today announced that its connected smart bulb lighting system, Philips Hue, is getting a new addition in the form of the E14 candle light bulb. Customers will be able to buy the new bulb in both color and white ambience versions in the U.S. later this year, and in Europe in April. The common candle bulb will fit a wide array of household lighting fixtures, and Philips said this means that Hue "can now be used in over 80% of light sockets commonly used in households around the world."
“The candle has been one of the most requested products by Philips Hue customers. We’ve spent time ensuring it is of the highest quality and available in both white ambiance and white and color ambiance. It is an important next step to ensure seamless integration in all rooms, giving you the freedom to personalize lighting throughout your home,” says Sridhar Kumaraswamy, Business Leader Connected Home Systems at Philips Lighting.
Otherwise, the candle light bulb will function the same as previous Hue products, connecting to the company's smartphone app through the Philips Hue Bridge accessory and allowing users to customize lighting colors, set schedules and geo-fences, and turn the lights on and off. According to Philips, candle light bulbs are mainly used in decorative lamps made for the bedroom, and with the white ambience bulb's dimming features users can get a better night's sleep and wake up more energized.
The new accessory is a 40W equivalent bulb with 470 lumens of brightness and will be priced around $40 for a single bulb when it launches in the U.S. later in 2017. Philips didn't mention if it would debut a Hue Starter Kit with the new candle light bulbs, but if it does the package would likely cost the same as current starter kits, which currently run between $70 and $200, depending on the type and amount of bulbs included.
Last year Google launched an app called Motion Stills that fixed a lot of issues that users had -- and still have -- with Apple's new Live Photos feature introduced in the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. With the new update, Motion Stills now lets users customize the displayed frame that appears automatically in the camera roll of the iOS Photos app.
The intent is to display more clearly what the Live Photo image is composed of, particularly when the frame displaying the content is taken from a blurry or unclear segment of the Live Photo. Now, users can cycle through any frame from a Live Photo in Motion Stills, choose a new image, and export it back out to the iOS Photos app with the new frame. This exporting process keeps the Live Photo in Apple's custom 3D touch looping format and not the GIF format of Motion Stills.
As The Verge pointed out, there is a catch in the basic function of Live Photos that could result in a customized frame appearing lower-resolution in the Photos app.
There is a catch. For space reasons, Live Photos only save the primary frame in full 12-megapixel clarity, with the other frames handled as lower-resolution video; choosing one of these frames will therefore result in a photo with less detail than the original. But since the vast majority of Live Photo viewing probably happens on phones, this may not be a major issue for you.
Other than the new frame feature, Motion Stills as a whole lets users turn Live Photos into easily shareable GIFs. The app also uses Google's video stabilization technology to smooth out jittery images and freeze backgrounds, giving an overall improvement on Apple's basic Live Photos. Motion Stills can be downloaded for free from the iOS App Store. [Direct Link]
Swatch is developing its own operating system for an all-new smartwatch intended to compete directly with Apple Watch and Android Wear, according to company CEO Nick Hayek (via Bloomberg). The new smartwatch will be an addition to the Tissot brand, a subsidiary of The Swatch Group, and is set to launch towards the end of 2018.
With its debut so far out, details remain scarce on both the watch itself and the Swatch-made user interface, but Hayek mentioned that the technology will require less battery power and will "protect data better." According to Hayek, the company's strategy will give Swatch the chance to become a worthy competitor to Apple and Samsung wearables because of its focus on a beefy battery which wouldn't require users to charge the watch every day, or every other day, like Apple Watch.
The already-announced Tissot Smart Touch compared to Apple Watch Series 2
Swatch’s approach will work better because it’s trying to “think small” as one of the biggest problem for wearable devices is battery drainage, Hayek said, speaking at the Biel, Switzerland headquarters of Omega, another of 18 brands that Swatch produces.
“There’s a possibility for wearables to develop as a consumer product, but you have to miniaturize and have an independent operating system,” the CEO said.
Luca Solca, an analyst who follows the luxury watch industry, pointed out that Swatch's own-made OS could be the company's first mistake. “People use smartwatches expecting to use the same apps they have on their mobiles," Solca explained. "A proprietary operating system defeats the object.” Swatch said it is willing to give its OS to third parties for the creation of apps, and about half of the parties interested originate from small companies in Silicon Valley who "don’t want to be dependent on Android and iOS."
The Tissot brand is set to launch its first smartwatch (seen in the image above), called the Tissot Smart Touch. The watch was announced a year ago and was set to launch in 2016, but it never appeared for users to order. When it does, Smart Touch will be a solar-powered wearable able to connect to iOS and Android smartphones, and include abilities like leading users to lost keys.
The Smart Touch will also include accessories like a standalone weather station that connects to the wearable and offers "hyper local weather information" like temperature, humidity, and air quality. With a debut so far out, it's unclear whether Swatch's new smartwatch will include any of the Smart Touch's features, or even what it might look like.
Although some smart wearable companies, like Fitbit, are facing troubled waters in the market, Apple Watch has become a "magnificent success" for Apple thanks to a boost in holiday sales in 2016. If the Swatch smartwatch debuts in late 2018, it would likely enter the market as a competitor to the Apple Watch Series 4.
Right now, rumors are understandably focused on the 2017 Apple Watch Series 3, with some suggesting the line's first major form factor change, and others theorizing that the wearable will see yet another iterative update this year with feature additions including cellular connectivity and the expected under-the-hood performance enhancements.
Apple shares hit a record closing high in Nasdaq trading yesterday, reaching $140.69 to beat its previous all-time closing high of $140.46 set just two days ago.
A new all-time intraday high of $141.02 was also set by AAPL on Thursday, eclipsing its previous record of $140.75, also set on March 15. Stocks re-opened today at $140.72 and remained steady around the $140 mark.
The figures cement Apple's position as the most valuable company by some margin, now with a market value of $738 billion. Google parent company Alphabet remains second largest with a market cap of around $592 billion, followed by Microsoft at just under $500 billion and Berkshire Hathaway at around $430 billion.
Following Apple's first annual revenue decline since 2001, its stock has been steadily rising over the past five months, buoyed by record-breaking earnings results at the end of January. February 14 saw shares reach $136.27 in intraday trading, eclipsing a previous all-time intraday high set in April 2015, while Apple's market value surpassed $700 billion.
Wall Street analysts have claimed for months now that Apple remains one of the world's most under appreciated stocks. Among a large group of Apple analysts, Brian White of Drexel Hamilton, Steven Milunovich of UBS, and former analyst turned venture capitalist Gene Munster have all predicted rises. Apple's relative strength line, which gauges the stock's performance versus the S&P 500 index, is at its highest level since September 2015.
Some projections put Apple's stock price on a continual upward trend over 'iPhone 8' optimism, with several financial analysts raising their price targets for Apple's stock to between $150 and $185, according to research notes obtained by MacRumors.
Netflix announced yesterday that it will replace star-based user reviews in its content library with binary thumbs up and thumbs down ratings over the coming weeks.
Previous star ratings given by users will be used to personalize their Netflix profiles, but the ability to rate a TV series or movie by awarding stars is set to disappear altogether, according to Variety.
Image via Variety
Netflix VP of Product Todd Yellin told journalists on Thursday during a press briefing at the company’s headquarters in Los Gatos, Calif., that the company had tested the new thumbs up and down ratings with hundred of thousands of members in 2016. "We are addicted to the methodology of A/B testing," Yellin said. The result was that thumbs got 200% more ratings than the traditional star-rating feature.
According to Netflix, at one point subscribers had awarded over 10 billion 5-star ratings and more than half of all members had rated more than 50 titles. However, the company eventually concluded that star ratings had become less relevant, with some users giving documentaries 5 stars and silly movies just 3 stars, even though they would watch the silly movies more often than the highly rated documentaries.
"We made ratings less important because the implicit signal of your behavior is more important," Yellin told journalists.
In addition to the binary rating scheme, Netflix is also bringing a new percent-match feature to its interface that shows how good a match any given show or movie is for an individual subscriber. If a movie or TV show fits very closely with a user's taste, it may get a high percentage match, although shows with less than a 50 percent match won't show a match rating.
Netflix said the changes will roll out globally within the next month or so.
Apple announced today that it will set up two additional research and development centers in China, to go with the two locations in the country that it announced last year. The new R&D centers will open in Shanghai and Suzhou, the company said in a statement on its Chinese website on Friday.
Apple hopes the centers will help it to attract graduates from institutes such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Shanghai Jiaotong University, and has partnered with schools in the region to offer internship programs, in the hope of developing experts to work closely with its regional supply chain.
Shanghai, China
"We are looking forward to working with more local partners and academic institutions through the expansion of R&D centers in China," said Dan Riccio, senior vice president of hardware engineering at Apple. "We are honored to have access to excellent talent and a positive entrepreneurial spirit in the region, where our developers and suppliers will be working together.
Apple's attempt to boost its presence in the country began last September with the opening of its first R&D center in Beijing's Zhongguancun Science Park, often referred to as "China's Silicon Valley". Another R&D center, this time in Shenzhen, was announced the following month.
Apple has pledged to invest more than 3.5 billion yuan ($508 million) in research and development in the country, in a bid to address dwindling returns on its Chinese iPhone business as consumers opt for low-cost mobile alternatives. Apple has also experienced pushback in other areas of its China plans, including the closure of iTunes and iBooks Stores.
Apple is expected to have completed construction of all its research and development centers in Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Suzhou later this year.
Apple is underpricing AirPods and the Apple Watch in an effort to bring new users into its ecosystem, according to Neil Cybart of Above Avalon. The analyst said this pricing strategy was "unimaginable" ten years ago, when Apple was often accused of pricing products artificially high, aka "Apple Tax."
AirPods cost $159 in the United States, which Cybart said is "surprisingly low" compared to competing truly wireless headphones:
It is very difficult to find a pair of wireless headphones priced lower than AirPods. In the run-up to Apple unveiling AirPods this past September, the wireless headphone market consisted of the following players:
Cybart believes a strong case could have been made for Apple to price its AirPods at $249, or even $299, but by selling them for $159, he thinks Apple has "removed all available oxygen from the wireless headphone space" and forced competitors to cut pricing in an attempt to better compete.
Earin's wireless headphones now start at $199, for example, while Motorola's VerveOnes+ are on sale for $189.99. Even at those discounted prices, however, AirPods are still cheaper at $159.
AirPods are estimated to ship in six weeks on Apple's online store, and it has been that way since the day after they launched in December.
Cybart said a similar pricing dynamic is found with the Apple Watch, which now starts at $269 for Series 1 models:
At $269, Apple Watch Series 1 is one of lowest-priced smartwatches worth buying in the marketplace. Attractive pricing was one key factor driving record Apple Watch sales this past holiday quarter. In fact, even the Apple Watch Series 2, at $349, is one of the lowest-priced smartwatches in its class:
Cybart believes the pricing of the Apple Watch demonstrates how Apple is looking to capture not only the premium segment of the wearables market, but rather the entire market. While an entry-level Apple Watch costs $269, for example, a ceramic Apple Watch Edition costs upwards of $1,249.
His research note theorizes that Apple could be more effective now at mass producing products at a lower cost, while offering price points that appeal to a wider variety of users. Higher-priced Apple Watch SKUs likely offset the lower margins of Apple Watch Series 1 models as well, he said.
He even thinks that an Apple Watch for $199 is "inevitable," although there might be less wiggle room for products such as iPads.
Overall, Cybart thinks Apple is in essence "redefining luxury" by offering lower prices while, at the same time, becoming more of a luxury brand. He expects it to be difficult for other consumer tech companies to compete with that strategy.
Of course, many Apple products are still unquestionably expensive. The latest 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar starts at $2,399, while an iPhone can cost upwards of $969. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro is priced from $799, and a handful of Apple Watch models run over $1,000. All prices are based on U.S. dollars.
ColorWare today introduced a customized iPhone 7 Plus Retro Edition that resembles the appearance of a vintage 1980s-era Macintosh for $1,899. It is a SIM-Free model with 256GB of storage, which normally retails for $969 in the United States. Orders are currently estimated to ship in 2-3 weeks.
The design includes a multicolored Apple rainbow logo and dark beige edge stripes painted over what is originally a Black colored iPhone 7 Plus. ColorWare said the iPhone 7 Plus Retro Edition will be available for a limited time only, and the first 25 sold will include a number of authenticity.
Details about the customization process:
At ColorWare, the product goes through a labor intensive process of disassembly, cleaning, masking, painting and inspection. Then, the product is buffed and reassembled. The product goes through final inspection and is packaged into the original packaging.
iPhone 7 Plus Retro Edition includes EarPods, a Lightning to USB Cable, a USB Power Adapter, and documentation in the box.
Apple today seeded the seventh beta of an upcoming macOS Sierra 10.12.4 update to developers, just three days after seeding the sixth macOS Sierra 10.12.4 beta and over a month after releasing macOS Sierra 10.12.3.
The seventh macOS Sierra 10.12.4 beta is available for download through the Apple Developer Center or the software update mechanism in the Mac App Store for those who have previously installed a beta.
macOS Sierra 10.12.4 brings iOS's Night Shift mode to the Mac for the first time. First introduced on iOS devices with iOS 9.3, Night Shift is designed to gradually shift the display of a device from blue to yellow, cutting down on exposure to blue light. Blue light is said to disrupt the circadian rhythm and is believed to interrupt sleeping patterns.
Night Shift can be activated through the Displays section of System Preferences, where a setting to have it come on at sunset and turn off at sunrise is available. Night Shift can also be toggled on manually through the Notification Center or via Siri.
The 10.12.4 update focuses mainly on Night Shift, but also includes dictation support for Shanghainese, cricket scores for Siri, improved PDFKit APIs, and iCloud Analytics options.
Few outward-facing changes have been discovered in macOS Sierra 10.12.4 outside of the first beta, as Apple has been working on bug fixes and improvements ahead of a public release. With the seventh beta out and the short interval since the last seed, we are getting closer to the end of the beta testing period and are likely to see a public release soon.
Update: The seventh beta is also available for members of Apple's public beta testing program.
Apple today seeded the seventh beta of an upcoming iOS 10.3 update to developers, just three days after seeding the sixth beta of iOS 10.3 and three months after the release of iOS 10.2, the last major update to the iOS 10 operating system.
Registered developers can download the seventh iOS 10.3 beta from the Apple Developer Center or over-the-air with the proper configuration profile installed.
iOS 10.3 is a major update, introducing significant new features and changes to the iOS 10 operating system. The biggest consumer-facing feature in iOS 10.3 is "Find My AirPods," which is designed to help AirPods owners locate a lost earphone. Find My AirPods records the last known location of when an AirPod was connected to an iOS device via Bluetooth and can play a sound on a lost AirPod.
Apple's latest update also introduces a new Apple File System (APFS), installed when an iOS device is updated to iOS 10.3. APFS is optimized for flash/SSD storage and includes features like strong encryption.
Apple plans to introduce some App Store changes in iOS 10.3, allowing developers to respond to customer reviews for the first time. iOS users are also able to label reviews in the App Store as "Helpful" or "Not Helpful," which should help surface the most relevant review content.
Apple also plans to limit the number of times developers can ask for a review, allow customers to leave app reviews without exiting an app, and provide a "master switch" that will let users turn off all app review request prompts.
Also new in iOS 10.3 is a redesigned app open/close animation, an Apple ID profile in Settings, a better breakdown of iCloud storage usage, warnings about outdated apps that won't work with future versions of iOS, HomeKit support for programmable light switches, improvements to SiriKit (bill paying, bill status, and scheduling future rides), CarPlay interface improvements, iCloud analytics options, and more.
For the last few betas, there have been no additional features discovered as Apple focuses instead on bug fixes and refinements ahead of a public release. We are likely nearing the end of the beta testing period, with a release expected in the near future.
Update: The seventh beta is also available for members of Apple's public beta testing program.
Amazon today announced that it will introduce its Siri competitor, Amazon Alexa, directly into the company's iOS app over the course of the next week (via VentureBeat). With the addition of Alexa, users will now be able to ask questions about the status of their orders, use their voice to initiate searches, play music, and start audio books from Audible.
Alexa's powers go beyond Amazon's shopping features -- users will also be able to use the voice assistant to search current news stories, check the weather, and even control smart home products. This means that iOS users who don't own any Amazon hardware can now gain access to Alexa's growing list of skills, which let users easily link multiple services together for quick voice control interactions.
Some users will begin seeing the Alexa update in Amazon's iOS app [Direct Link] starting today, but the rollout is expected to reach everyone on iOS by next week.
Just one month after Bloomberg reported that Apple is testing a new Apple TV capable of streaming high-resolution 4K video, which it said is codenamed "J105" and could launch as soon as this year, the first evidence of the rumored fifth-generation streaming box may have surfaced in developer logs.
Firi Games, the developers behind arcade games Phoenix HD and Phoenix II, told us they have seen a single device identified as "AppleTV6,2" and running "tvOS 11.0" connect to Phoenix HD for Apple TV from the United States in its logs. The IP address falls within a range linked to Apple's headquarters in Cupertino.
The current Apple TV has a model identifier of AppleTV5,3, and Apple TV6,2 does not correspond with any released model.
While the details could be faked, similar evidence of an iPhone 5s running iOS 7 showed up in January 2013, around nine months before the device was announced, and the timeline is appropriate if Apple is indeed testing a new Apple TV. The current Apple TV, the first to run tvOS, launched in October 2015.
No other details surrounding a fifth-generation Apple TV are known at this point. In December 2015, hit-or-miss Taiwanese website DigiTimes, citing supply chain sources, claimed the next-generation Apple TV would feature a new CPU with dramatically improved performance, but that report has yet to materialize.
In a 
