MacRumors

Apple has reportedly signed a two-year contract with Samsung for the supply up to 92 million curved OLED panels, as it attempts to ramp up capacity for this year's release of its high-end "iPhone 8".

Earlier this week supply chain sources claimed Apple had ordered 70 million units of panels from Samsung, its sole OLED supplier for the upcoming phone, which is expected to feature a major design overhaul. However, according to reports on Thursday in Korea-based ET News, Chosun Biz, and other media outlets, Apple has upped its OLED demands in an effort to cater for higher demand later this year and beyond 2017.

Based on the contract, Samsung Display will ship 70-92 million small-size OLED panels to Apple in 2017, said the reports. This means that about 30% of iPhone devices shipped in 2017 will come with curved OLED panels, given that Apple currently ships about 200 million iPhone devices a year.

Rumors have consistently suggested Apple will offer the OLED iPhone alongside more typical iPhone 7S and 7S Plus models with standard LCD panels when it announces the devices in September. Apart from a 5.2-inch edge-to-edge display, the redesigned "10th anniversary" iPhone is thought to feature a glass body, some form of wireless charging, no Home button, and a premium price tag.

Meanwhile, Taiwan-based Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting has estimated that shipments of Apple's forthcoming iPhones are likely to reach 100 million units in 2017. At least 55 million of the units are expected to feature OLED panels.

Samsung has reportedly converted an LCD factory in Asia into an OLED panel plant to meet Apple's demands. The South Korean firm's total investments for OLED production lines could reach 10 trillion won in 2017, according to sources from the supply chain.

(via DigiTimes.)

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has filed a lawsuit against Apple alleging that it violated Australian consumer law when a software update it issued last year bricked some users' iPhones.

The lawsuit relates to the infamous "error 53" message reported back in February 2016 that began greeting some users after they updated their devices. It later emerged that the devices bricked by the message had been repaired by third-party technicians.

Apple initially said the message was a protective security feature designed to protect consumers' devices from the installation of fraudulent Touch ID components, but later admitted the error was a mistake and apologized for it, offering instructions online explaining how to fix affected devices.

The Australian regulator that filed the federal lawsuit is seeking financial penalties from Apple. Penalties of up to A$1.1million ($829,000) per breach could be assessed, according to The Wall Street Journal, but it would be up to the court to define how many breaches occurred. Apple has yet to respond to request for comment.

Rod Sims, chairman of the ACCC, said the lawsuit challenges Apple's entire policy of requiring customers to pay for repairs to defective components if their device was previously serviced by a third party.

"It's fair to say we haven't observed similar behavior by other manufacturers," Mr. Sims said in an interview, adding that it is often cheaper for customers to seek repairs from third-party shops. "Apple seems to have a particular way of doing things."

Australian Consumer Law requires that when a product is purchased, there's a guarantee that it will be "reasonably fit" for its intended purpose. As the ACCC sees it, the error 53 message rendered customers' iPhones and iPads unusable, therefore they should be entitled to a remedy from Apple under the law.

Apple faced a class action lawsuit in the U.S. over the error message last year, after some users accused it of false advertising and complained of data loss. Apple reimbursed the affected customers with working devices, and the company's motion to dismiss the case was successful after a district judge ruled that plaintiffs lacked evidence to back up their claims.

YouTube TV, YouTube's streaming television service that was first announced in late February, is rolling out to five cities in the United States starting today.

Priced at $35, the service is available in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Separate from YouTube Red, YouTube's premium service that features content from prominent YouTubers, YouTube TV is a standalone app that's focused on a mobile first experience. It features access to ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CW, Disney, ESPN, FX, USA, and dozens of other major cable channels, alongside standard YouTube video content. Premium channels like Showtime are available for an additional fee.

YouTube TV is priced competitively with other streaming services like DirecTV Now, Sling TV, and PlayStation Vue, and its feature set includes cloud DVR options with unlimited storage space and an AI-powered recommendation system. Up to six people in a household can use a single YouTube TV subscription.

To access YouTube TV, customers will need to download the YouTube TV app for iOS or Android, both of which are available today. A one-month free trial is available, and YouTube is providing a free Chromecast with the first month's payment to allow customers to stream content to a television set.

YouTube TV can be downloaded from the App Store starting now. [Direct Link]

Apple recently invited a small group of reporters to Cupertino for a roundtable discussion about the Mac, and while the conversation was primarily focused on the Mac Pro, Apple also revealed that it currently has no plans for Macs with touchscreens or Macs powered solely by ARM chips, rather than Intel processors.

Ina Fried, reporting for Axios:

The company has no plans for touchscreen Macs, or for machines powered solely by the kind of ARM processors used in the iPhone and iPad. However, executives left open the possibility ARM chips could play a broader role as companion processors, something that showed up first with the T1 processor that powers the Touch Bar in the new MacBook Pro.

Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller aptly said "no" when asked about the prospect of touchscreen Macs in particular.

Matthew Panzarino, reporting for TechCrunch:

It's worth noting that, when asked about a touch display here, in the context of efforts like Microsoft's Surface Studio, Schiller replies "No."

"That's a whole other long discussion we can get into, but suffice it to say, it's not a big need of the Mac Pro customers that we’re trying to address," he says. "You mentioned again how we're talking about both the iMac and MacBook — I do think that we have a two-prong desktop strategy with both iMac and Mac Pro, we think are each going to be important for pro desktops."

It's not the first time that Schiller or Apple have dismissed the idea of a touchscreen Mac. In November, he said that Apple has tested a touchscreen Mac and "absolutely come away with the belief that it isn't the right thing to do." He even went as far as calling the idea of a touchscreen iMac "absurd."

“Can you imagine a 27-inch iMac where you have to reach over the air to try to touch and do things? That becomes absurd.” He also explains that such a move would mean totally redesigning the menu bar for fingers, in a way that would ruin the experience for those using pointer devices like the touch or mouse. “You can’t optimize for both,” he says. “It’s the lowest common denominator thinking.”

Apple design chief Jony Ive has likewise said that a touchscreen Mac would "not be a particularly useful or appropriate application of Multi-Touch."

For now, it appears the closest we will get to a touchscreen or ARM-based Mac is the latest MacBook Pro, which has a Touch Bar powered by an ARM-based T1 chip as a companion processor. Apple has said one thing and later reversed course in the past, however, so the company's roadmap could change in the future.

Apple's trouble with getting a wide array of its users, retail partners, and banks to adopt Apple Pay has been highlighted in a new article today by The Wall Street Journal, which also underlines a belief from Apple executives that the service's growth is adequate and that Apple Pay could soon become consumers' "primary payment system," in lieu of cash and credit cards.

Data collected from technology research firm Creative Strategies reported that 40 percent of U.S. consumers have raised concerns about security risks of adding a credit or debit card onto their iPhone, while more than 60 percent aren't even familiar with contactless payments.

While data from a recent Nilson Report noted that Apple Pay's rate of acceptance has "more than doubled since 2015," only a third of stores based in the U.S. have accepted it as a form of payment. Many well-known companies have rolled out support for the service, including Best Buy and Whole Foods, but there remain notable absences from Apple Pay's retail supporter list, namely Target and Wal-Mart.

Braden More, the head of partnerships and industry relations at Wells Fargo, asked, "If you can’t use it everywhere, why are you going to switch?" This reticence by consumers to jump in on Apple Pay's launch is said to have permeated within the company surrounding its debut, to the point where Apple executives "were reluctant to promote it." Apple Pay has been noticeably absent from the company's advertising strategy since its launch, with just two Apple Pay-focused commercials being made in nearly three years.

Apple expected consumers to embrace Apple Pay as energetically as they did iTunes—an instant hit when it launched in 2003—because executives felt it was faster and safer than existing payment systems, a former employee on the project said. When retailers didn’t support it initially, the person said, Apple executives were reluctant to promote it and invest in retail terminals that would spur adoption.

More recently, the company has become less concerned with Apple Pay's slow adoption over the past few years, because it still sees the mobile wallet as a nascent service whose domination over the industry will come with time. "Does it matter if we get there in two years, three years [or] five years?" Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue said in an interview. "Ultimately, no." Cue compared Apple Pay's adoption as faster than other mobile wallets and thinks it could go so far as to replace cash, debit and credit cards as a primary payment system.

Until that happens, Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey is working on beefing up the company's retail training so that users aren't more knowledgable of paying with the service than employees. The company is said to be working with retailers to add Apple Pay instructions into work manuals as a way to spread knowledge of the mobile wallet's check-out process.

Apple Pay made $30 million for the company in the last fiscal year, accounting for a small portion of Apple's total services business, which made $24.35 billion in total in the same period. While adoption is low and consumer knowledge remains slim, Apple's services business -- which includes iCloud, the App Store, iTunes, and more -- has become a point of focus for the company, so much so that it expects to double its revenue in this area by 2021, Apple Pay expectedly included.

For this reason, David Roberts of Nilson said that Apple Pay is right on the cusp of a wider, "ubiquitous" acceptance.

Nilson Report publisher David Robertson said that with about a third of U.S. retailers adopting it, Apple Pay is on the cusp of broad acceptance. “It’s going to become so ubiquitous that we will all do it,” he said.

Notably, the rest of 2017 is a big year for Apple and Apple Pay, as the year marks the three-year anniversary of Apple Pay, as well as the end of three-year contract agreements that the company made with banks and credit card issuers back in 2014. Apple will begin negotiations to renew these contracts for the next few years, which the company hopes to be a major contributing factor in helping to double its services revenue over the next four years.

Apple has informed its authorized resellers that the Mac Pro's new 8-core stock configuration will be available to order by the end of April. Until then, Apple said the model can be created by selecting the 6-core option and using the configure-to-order options to match the 8-core model's upgraded tech specs.

Packaging changes are likely the only reason why the 8-core model is currently unavailable as a stock configuration to resellers and customers, given that the base model customized with an 8-core processor and dual AMD FirePro D700 GPUs for the same price currently ships in 1-3 business days on Apple.com.

Apple adjusted its Mac Pro configurations and pricing yesterday. The former 6-core model with dual AMD FirePro D500 GPUs and 16GB of RAM for $3,999 is now the $2,999 base model, while the previously configure-to-order 8-core model with dual D700 GPUs and 16GB of RAM is now the high-end stock configuration for $3,999.

Apple listed the new Mac Pro configurations on its online store on Tuesday, but the 8-core model is currently unavailable for customers to order. Apple's website briefly said the 8-core model would be available in "30 business days," somewhat in line with the end of April, but that estimate was quickly removed.

Apple has discontinued the previous base model, equipped with a quad-core Xeon E5 processor, dual AMD FirePro D300 GPUs, and 12GB of RAM.

The bigger news is that Apple said it is working on a "completely rethought" Mac Pro featuring a modular design. The all-new Mac Pro, which won't launch until at least next year, will be Apple's highest-end, highest-throughput system, and it will be accompanied by a new Apple-branded pro-focused external display.

Apple also said that it is working on new iMac models that will be unveiled later this year, but it remained tight-lipped about what to expect. It is rare for Apple to pre-announce future products in this manner, but it was a welcomed response to concerns that Apple was no longer focused on professional users.

Given that the current Mac Pro still has over three year old hardware, prospective buyers should weigh the price drop against the old tech before purchasing the computer. Some professionals might consider waiting for the completely redesigned and modular Mac Pro launching at some point after 2017.

(Thanks, Holden!)

The next-generation Apple Watch is scheduled to be released in the second half of 2017, according to supply chain newspaper DigiTimes.

The timeline matches a Chinese-language Economic Daily News report that claimed new Apple Watch models will be unveiled in the third quarter of 2017, aka fall, with battery life and performance improvements.

Apple Watch Series 2 models and slightly upgraded Series 1 models launched in September alongside the iPhone 7, so it is reasonable to assume that Series 3 models could launch in September as well. The original Apple Watch, now dubbed Series 0, launched in April 2015.

In addition to a faster processor and longer battery life, cellular connectivity has been a long-rumored addition to the Apple Watch, and SIG analyst Christopher Rolland believes LTE capabilities could be included in Series 3 models. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also said LTE could be added as early as 2017.

With a cellular connection, Apple Watch owners would not need a paired iPhone nearby to do things like make phone calls or stream Apple Music content, but a separate data plan from a carrier would likely be needed.

Apple is also expected to switch to a glass-film touchscreen this year in place of the current touch-on-lens solution, but it is unclear if this change would have any obvious consumer-facing benefits.

The overall design of the Apple Watch has not changed since the original models launched in April 2015, but one report yet to be substantiated claims Series 3 models will have few if any significant hardware changes. Apple has instead introduced new bands each season to offer a fresh look and feel.

Few other details are known about the next Apple Watch at this point, and no parts have leaked from the supply chain yet.

Apple has filed patents for a number of ideas that could eventually be included in an Apple Watch, such as a heart rate identification system, modular bands, haptic feedback band, and a band with a built-in charger. More significant health and fitness features could be added pending further FDA approvals.

Quanta Computer is expected to remain the primary manufacturer of the Apple Watch, with some production reportedly shifting to Compal Electronics.

Apple could delay its rumored high-end iPhone with a 5.8-inch edge-to-edge OLED display until October or even November, according to a new report out on Wednesday.

In recent years, Apple has released its iPhone updates in September, but according to Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN), suppliers are encountering "technical issues" in the production of the upcoming "iPhone 8" because of differences in the display lamination process and challenges involved in integrating the 3D sensing front camera system.

The report tallies with a rumor that circulated last month suggesting the iPhone 8 may go on sale later than usual, due to the switch to an OLED display and the new technology needed. In such a scenario, the launch of an iPhone 7s and 7s Plus would go ahead in September as scheduled, with the higher-end iPhone 8 coming later in the year.

Such a staggered release would be highly untypical of Apple, and it's hard to imagine the company holding a September launch event for "S" cycle iPhones with no mention of the highly rumored OLED device. However, it is possible the higher-end phone could be revealed at the same time but launched in limited quantities or at a later date. Barclays analysts recently claimed that Apple will launch its "10th anniversary iPhone" in the usual September timeframe, albeit in short supply until a full stock arrives in the fourth quarter.

Earlier this week it was reported that Apple has placed an order for 70 million OLED panels from Samsung, anticipating high demand. Samsung is preparing to be able to produce up to 95 million panels in 2017, said the sources.

Market watchers are said to be analyzing the pull-in of orders for passive components from the iPhone's supply chain to see whether production of the new iPhone devices is on track, according to EDN. Apart from the edge-to-edge OLED display, the "iPhone 8" is expected to include wireless charging, no physical Home button, and perhaps 3D facial recognition and/or iris scanning. In addition, rumors suggest that Touch ID could be embedded in or under a True Tone display.

(Via DigiTimes.)