MacRumors

Apple's long-awaited BeatsX Earphones became available for purchase this morning, giving Apple customers an alternative to the hard-to-find AirPods.

Priced at $149.95, BeatsX Earphones are wireless like AirPods, but are connected together with a cord that makes them easier to keep track of and better suited to active lifestyles. We managed to get our hands on a set of BeatsX Earphones to give MacRumors readers a closer look at Apple's latest product.

The earphones charge via Lightning, and ship with four interchangeable eartip sizes and secure-fit wingtips to keep them in place. With a full charge, users can expect eight hours of playback from the BeatsX, and a five minute "Fast Fuel" charging feature offers two hours of playback.

BeatsX Earphones are now available from Apple's online store and from many Apple retail stores around the world. Black and White models can be purchased starting today, while the Blue and Gray versions will be available later in the month. Online orders placed today in the United States will be delivered next week.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been on a whirlwind of a trip in Europe this week, making stops in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom to meet with everyone from students and developers to Apple retail employees and government officials.

On Thursday, Cook visited the Ustwo Games offices in London to meet the creators of popular iPhone game Monument Valley. There, he later sat down for a chat with The Independent's David Phelan to discuss a wide variety of topics, ranging from Apple's hardware roadmap to augmented reality.

Responding to a question about how difficult it is to stay ahead of the curve, and to put the right hardware in place for the next generation of developers, Cook said Apple will "continue to push" not only on the hardware side, but also on the software side with its Swift programming language.

We try to continually push ourselves to do more and more, not just on the hardware side but also in terms of developers’ tools so they can take advantage of the hardware that’s there, in the best way. That’s the heart of what the coding software Swift is about. We’ve created the language and our hope was that you can get a lot more people coding, and then secondly have people push more to take advantage of the latest hardware.

Cook said the importance of Apple being able to design its own hardware is "rising exponentially" due to things like machine learning and the company's desire to "maintain a level of privacy" for its users.

I regard it as a big idea like the smartphone. The smartphone is for everyone, we don't have to think the iPhone is about a certain demographic, or country or vertical market: it’s for everyone. I think AR is that big, it’s huge. I get excited because of the things that could be done that could improve a lot of lives. And be entertaining. I view AR like I view the silicon here in my iPhone, it’s not a product per se, it’s a core technology. But there are things to discover before that technology is good enough for the mainstream. I do think there can be a lot of things that really help people out in daily life, real-life things, that’s why I get so excited about it.

Cook said the developers, among others, he met on his trip were "incredibly uplifting," particularly with Brexit looming in the United Kingdom.

You can really see the start-up community gaining momentum. That’s important any time but with Brexit hanging over – from some people’s point of view – it’s even more important that these stories get out where people have something to look at and say “You know, times are not really awful, there’s some great things happening.” It gives me a lot of energy to talk to developers, or meet students in classrooms who are using our technology to help learn faster and better. Watching them pursue their passion.

Earlier today, Cook visited the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology to check out students' digital design work. He also visited the Woodberry Down primary school and met with London mayor Sadiq Khan to discuss access to talent, digital skills, and Apple's investment in the city.

Full Interview: Apple CEO Tim Cook: As Brexit Hangs Over UK… at The Independent

Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey believes that Apple Pay is valuable enough that "customers will say they are happy to switch banks to use it."

Bailey claims Australians are using Apple Pay more frequently than customers in any other countries, which she said "is in large part due to Australia being a recognized global leader in contactless payments and usage."

That's good news for ING Direct and Macquarie, which have announced they will enable support for Apple Pay in Australia by the end of February. Both banks are listed as "coming soon" on the Apple Pay website in Australia, alongside ANZ, Bank Australia, Beyond Bank, P&N Bank, and over 30 other smaller banks.

Bailey's comments, made in an interview with the Australian Financial Review, appear to be directed towards three of Australia's "Big Four" banks that refuse to accept Apple Pay, namely Commonwealth Bank, NAB, and Westpac. The fourth bank, ANZ, has supported Apple Pay since April 2016.

The trio of banks, along with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, instead turned to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in an attempt to gain access to the NFC hardware in the iPhone. The banks want access to the NFC chip so they can offer their own existing bank-run mobile payments services.

"While initially, in many markets, there have been banks that have initially been wary about working with a company as large as Apple, once they begin to work with us and understand the Apple Pay platform, they see the benefits of it," said Bailey. "That hasn't fully happened with the ACCC applicants, because the conversation is happening through the ACCC process, compared to what normally happens, which is we have the conversation bilaterally."

The ACCC denied rejected the application from the banks in November as part of a draft ruling, and its final decision will be announced in March.

Last year, Apple told the ACCC that "allowing the banks to form a cartel to collectively dictate terms to new business models and services would set a troubling precedent and delay the introduction of new, potentially disruptive technologies."

Apple upholds very high security standards for our customers when they use Apple devices to make payments. Providing simple access to the NFC antenna by banking applications would fundamentally diminish the high level of security Apple aims to have on our devices.

Unfortunately, and based on their limited understanding of the offering, the [banks] perceive Apple Pay as a competitive threat. These banks want to maintain complete control over their customers. The present application is only the latest tactic employed by these competing banks to blunt Apple's entry into the Australian market.

Earlier this week, the banks said they are fighting to provide "real choice" and "real competition" for consumers.

The application has never been about preventing Apple Pay from coming to Australia or reducing competition between wallets. It has always been about providing real choice and real competition for consumers and facilitating innovation and investment in the digital wallet functionality available to Australians. Apple's statement that the application is fundamentally about an objection to the fees that Apple wish to be given rather than NFC access, is incorrect and unsupported.

Despite the ACCC negotiations and apparent ill-will, Bailey said Apple still wants "to work with the banks in Australia to bring Apple Pay to our customers, in a way that advantages many of the things they are offering through their banking apps, which we have done already in other markets."

"That's why the announcement about these new banks is important and we are continually on that path – because as more banks get on the platform, I think there is more of an industry understanding about how Apple Pay really compliments their services," she added, referring to ING Direct and Macquarie.

Commonwealth Bank, NAB, Westpac, and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank reportedly serve two-thirds of Australian cardholders.

A number of customers who purchased the matte Black iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus have noticed that the anodized finish on their devices has started chipping or peeling off in areas where there has allegedly been little wear, leading to a growing complaint thread on Apple's Support Communities.

Multiple photos in the thread depict chipping in areas near the speaker grille and the volume buttons, even in situations where the iPhone was said to be protected by a case.

I have the same issue, especially around the speaker grill, the color chipped off where there is clearly no sign of use anywhere around, plus the phone was always in a case from day 1. Chipped off about 20 days after I got it. That is really not a sign of quality here, and I will also certainly not buy a pen to cover this. Apple should recognise the matter and offer a solution here.

At least one user has seen more extensive chipping across the back of the device, a much more serious problem than most of the reports.

My case might be even worse. The paint at the back of the iPhone started to chip off very heavily. First there were some bubbles building up and then when I put the iPhone on a table the paint chipped off completely.

I was at an Apple Store complaining about it but they didn't know how to classify my case so I didn't get a new phone for free. But the Apple Support hotline helped me out and asked me to send pictures of my phone. These pictures now have been sent to the engineers in California and I'm waiting for feedback...

A finish prone to chips and peeling is not unique to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, nor to the matte Black color. It's an issue that has affected several versions of the iPhone in the past, including the iPhone 6 and 6s, but there seem to be a higher number of complaints from iPhone 7 users who are affected by the problem.

Parallels can be drawn to complaints that surfaced in 2012 after the release of the Black and Slate iPhone 5, which also drew a lot of criticism from customers due to chipping and scuffing issues. At that time, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller responded and said some wear was normal. "Any aluminum product may scratch or chip with use, exposing its natural silver color," he said. "That is normal."

Matte Black iPhone 7 owners who have contacted Apple about the chipping issue have been told that because it's cosmetic, their devices are not eligible for repair, which has traditionally been Apple's stance on reports of finish problems.

Cosmetic damage is not covered under warranty, so iPhone 7 owners with chipped devices are unlikely to get replacements. Some affected users from Apple's Support Communities have used sharpies or black paint to cover the damage, while others have sold and replaced their devices with a color less prone to damage.

Apple warned users that its glossy Jet Black iPhone 7, sold alongside the matte Black version, would see "fine micro-abrasions" with use and instructed concerned customers to use a case, but no similar warning was given about other iPhone 7 colors.

Apple is widely rumored to launch a high-end iPhone with an edge-to-edge OLED display this year, which has been variously called the "iPhone 8" or "iPhone X" to commemorate the smartphone's tenth anniversary, and rumors suggest the device will an include iris scanner to authenticate with your eyes.

A person's iris, or the circular colored muscle of the eye, contains a complex and random pattern that is unique to each individual.

DigiTimes has sources within Apple's supply chain, but it has a mixed track record at reporting on Apple's unannounced product plans, so this latest report should be treated with a proverbial grain of salt. The publication previously said iPhones with iris scanning capabilities would not debut until 2018.

DigiTimes previously cited a Chinese website that said 2017 iPhones will include iris scanning capabilities, but today's report is based on its own sources. The original report claimed Taiwan-based supplier Xintec, an affiliate of Apple manufacturer TSMC, would begin mass production of iris-recognition chips this year.

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, one of the more reliable sources of iPhone rumors, believes Apple is leaning toward facial recognition technology rather than iris recognition, based on the bio-recognition patents it has filed. Way back in March 2016, he said the "iPhone 8" will include either facial or iris recognition.

Kuo said he believes Touch ID will "ultimately be replaced by a facial recognition system" for enhanced security, in line with rumors Apple will remove the Home button; however, if the technical challenges cannot be overcome, he noted a "combination of fingerprint and facial recognition" is another possible solution.

Last month, Cowen and Company analyst Timothy Arcuri said the "iPhone 8" could include facial or gesture recognition technology powered by a laser sensor and an infrared sensor located near the front-facing camera. The feature could allow users to control their devices with simple gestures for tasks such as adjusting volume.

Lending credence to these rumors is Apple's trademark for "Iris Engine" and the acquisitions of companies such as Faceshift and PrimeSense.

iPhone would not be the first smartphone with an iris scanner, as Samsung included the technology on its now-discontinued Galaxy Note7.

DigiTimes also said the "iPhone 8" will enter production earlier than in previous years, in line with a report from earlier this week.

Apple has requested its chip and component suppliers start trial production, inspection and prepare inventories for the new iPhone series earlier than usual, said the sources. Deliveries of chips and parts for the new models are expected to kick off in the second half of first-quarter 2017, the sources indicated.

Apple's trio of new iPhones, including more iterative "iPhone 7s" and "iPhone 7s Plus" models, are still expected to launch in September per usual. The "iPhone 8" in particular may cost upwards of $1,000 in the U.S. due to its significant redesign and features that require more expensive parts.

As Apple CEO Tim Cook continues to make his rounds in Europe, Good Morning Britain managed to catch him for a quick interview while he was visiting Woodberry Down Primary School yesterday. Regarding fake news, which has been an increasingly hot topic since the U.S. Presidential election got into full swing last year, Cook said that "this is one of today's chief problems."

In the wake of growing fake news, companies like Facebook have taken action to bring the quality of an article to their users' attention before they share it with their friends. For Apple, Cook said that the solution to the problem is not a simple one.

"We have to give the consumer tools to help with this. And we've got filter out part of it before it ever gets there without losing the great openness of the internet. And so this is one of today's chief problems, it is not something that has a simple solution."

Cook covered another topic during his stay in London this week, discussing Brexit with United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May. According to The Independent, in the talk Cook said that he is "very optimistic" about the UK's future outside of the European Union, and that it will be "just fine," although there will undoubtedly be some "bumps in the road along the way."

In a statement released after the meeting, Apple said: "We are proud that Apple's innovation and growth now supports nearly 300,000 jobs across the UK."

Apple will continue to back the UK in the future, as it currently plans on building a new headquarters at London's Battersea Power Station, expected to be complete by 2021. After its completion, 1,400 employees will be moved from eight locations around London to occupy the company's new UK offices.

Early this morning, Cook also continued documenting his European adventures on Twitter, congratulating the Tate Britain art gallery after he visited its digital artwork exhibit. Yesterday, he stopped in the offices of ustwo games in London to get a sneak peak at the latest mobile game from the company behind Monument Valley.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Apple today officially launched its much-anticipated BeatsX Earphones on its online store for $149.95, after initially delaying the earphones from Fall 2016 and into February 2017. With the delay of BeatsX, Apple focused on the December launch of the AirPods, which have subsequently become hard to come by for those interested in Apple's own Bluetooth headphones.

Apple's website states shipping times of 4-5 business days for the White and Black color options, and 8-11 business days for Blue and Gray. Some Amazon orders for BeatsX suggested the earphones might arrive in late January, but those dates were inaccurately estimated for customers.

BeatsX are different from the AirPods in a few small ways, including the fact that the earphones are tethered together by a flex-form cable instead of being completely wireless like AirPods. Thanks to the cable, however, BeatsX include in-line remote control media playback, as well as more ease of mind for those afraid of losing the earphones thanks to the cable's security when resting on the user's neck. Further preventing loss is a magnet in each BeatsX earphone that clicks the earphones together when resting against the user's chest.

The BeatsX Earphones also include a W1 chip for easy pairing with any iOS device, as well as a charging system that supports Lightning cables, continuing to deepen the ease-of-use of the Beats brand in Apple's ecosystem. To provide as secure fit as possible, the earphones ship with four interchangeable eartip sizes, as well as removable secure-fit wingtips for when users plan on being highly active with BeatsX.

The new earphones provide up to eight hours of music playback with a full charge, and users can get a full two hours of battery life on five minutes of charge with its "Fast Fuel" charging feature. "Authentic, clear acoustics" provide high-quality sound playback on BeatsX, with optimized noise isolation to give users an "immersive listening experience."

BeatsX were one of the W1-enabled earphones that Apple announced during its September 7 iPhone event, also including the AirPods, Powerbeats3, and Beats Solo3. The AirPods launched on December 13 and availability remains scarce, while the Beats Solo3 have been out since September, and the Powerbeats3 were available to order in October. Now, those interested can pick up BeatsX on Apple.com for $149.95 in both white and black.

As LG works on a fix for a Wi-Fi router issue plaguing its UltraFine 27-inch 5K Display, Apple has delayed shipments for the accessory and removed in store pickup options.

New orders for the LG UltraFine 5K Display will now ship out in five to six weeks, ensuring buyers will get a display with updated hardware that fixes the Wi-Fi interference problem.

Prior to the shipping change, the displays were shipping out in a couple of weeks, and for a period in January, shipping estimates were as low as three to five days.

The shipping delay can be attributed to an issue that first popped up shortly after the displays began shipping out to customers in December. Users began noticing display glitches and freezes that were eventually attributed to interference caused by close proximity to a Wi-Fi router. Last week, LG confirmed the existence of a problem, apologized, and announced an official hardware fix.

Going forward, all UltraFine 5K Displays manufactured after February 2017 include additional shielding, protecting them against electromagnetic radiation from routers.

Existing models are also able to be retrofitted with the same improved shielding, and customers who have already purchased a display will need to get in touch with LG support to arrange a repair to solve the problem.

Created by Apple and LG to work with the new 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pro models, the UltraFine 5K Display continues to be available for $974, a 25 percent discount off of the standard $1,299.95 price tag. Special pricing, part of a sale on USB-C accessories, will be available until March 31.

Update: In line with Apple removing its in-store pickup tool, the LG UltraFine 5K Display appears to be temporarily out of stock at all Apple retail stores. A tipster informed us the Apple Store in Walnut Creek, CA was unable to process his LG UltraFine 5K Display purchase on Thursday:

When the Apple Store manager tried to sell it to me, the internal system would not allow him to sell it. As an experiment, he tried inputting a 4K model, successfully, which confirmed that the sales lockout only applies to the 5K monitor.

MacRumors called Apple Stores in New York, Toronto, and elsewhere, and all of the locations confirmed the display was out of stock. Apple's central call center is also unable to check availability of the display.

When clearing Safari browser history, iPhone and iPad users expect all records to be permanently deleted from their devices, but it appears Apple's cross-device browser syncing feature caused iCloud to secretly store browsing history for a much longer period of time ranging from several months to over a year.

iCloud was caught storing deleted browser history by software company Elcomsoft, which develops cracking tools for extracting protected data from iOS devices. Speaking to Forbes, Elcomsoft CEO Vladimir Katalov explained that the company had been able to retrieve "deleted" browser history dating back more than a year.

The point is that Apple keeps synced Safari browsing history in the cloud for much longer than one, three or four months - even for deleted entries. ElcomSoft researchers were able to access records that've been deleted more than a year ago, which means that deleted records are not actually cleaned up from iCloud.

Forbes tried using the Phone Breaker software created by Elcomsoft and was able to retrieve nearly 7,000 records dating back to November of 2015. Site names, URLs, Google searches, visit counts, and the date and time items were deleted were included. It's not clear why Apple was storing the information for so long, but it appears to have been an oversight related to ensuring information is deleted on all devices once cleared rather than intentional.

Shortly after Forbes and Elcomsoft published their iCloud findings, Elcomsoft noticed previously available records being deleted as part of a server-side fix quietly implemented by Apple. All deleted browser records older than two weeks have been eliminated. From Elcomsoft's blog:

Update: we have informed media about this issue in advance, and they reached Apple for comments. As far as we know, Apple has not responded, but started purging older history records. For what we know, they could be just moving them to other servers, making deleted records inaccessible from the outside; but we never know for sure. Either way, as of right now, for most iCloud accounts we can see history records for the last two weeks only (deleted records for those two weeks are still there though).

Good move, Apple. Still, we would like to get an explanation.

Even before Apple made the server-side fix to make sure deleted browsing history is permanently removed in a timely manner, it was difficult to get ahold of the information. Forensic software like Phone Breaker was required, which doesn't come cheap, and Phone Breaker only works with a user's Apple ID and password, or an authentication token pulled from a user's computer.

In iOS 9.3 and later (and Safari 9.1 and later), Apple also began turning URLs into unreadable hashes instead of plaintext when browser history is deleted, an additional security measure, but Forbes says that didn't stop Elcomsoft's tool from working with the newest versions of Safari.

While Apple now appears to be deleting browsing data at the two week mark (or has made it invisible to tools like Phone Breaker), iCloud users should be aware that their browsing history, including cleared browser history, is stored in iCloud for at least that two week period. Users who are not comfortable with that can easily disable syncing features through the iCloud section of the Settings app. Apple has not commented on Elcomsoft's finding or the apparent server-side fix.

Apple is widely rumored to launch three new iPhones this year, and KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo now claims that all of them will feature wireless charging.

An excerpt from Kuo's research note obtained by MacRumors:

While we don’t expect general users to notice any difference, lamination of an additional graphite sheet is needed for better thermal control and, thus, steady operation; this is because FPCB is replaced with film, which is more sensitive to temperature change of the 3D touch sensor in OLED iPhone.

The new 3D Touch module could be up to $5 more expensive for Apple to procure per phone. While that is a minimal increase, it lends further credence to a report claiming the high-end iPhone 8 could cost upwards of $1,000 in the United States due to a significant redesign and the use of premium parts.

Kuo previously said Apple will switch to all-glass casing for next year's entire iPhone lineup, including the more iterative 4.7-inch iPhone 7s and 5.5-inch iPhone 7s Plus, in order to support wireless charging. It remains unclear if the wireless charging will be based on long-range or inductive technologies.

Just weeks before Apple is rumored to launch a trio of new iPads, 12.9-inch iPad Pro stock is drying up around the world.

A spot check of Apple's online store reveals that most if not all 12.9-inch iPad Pro models are now estimated to ship in 2-3 weeks in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, and elsewhere—that's up from a shipping estimate of 1-2 weeks as recently as last weekend.

Apple's in-store pickup tool lists most 12.9-inch iPad Pro models as available on March 3 to March 6 in locations ranging from New York and San Francisco to Toronto, Canada and London, England. Some models remain available for pickup as early as "today," but stock has increasingly depleted based upon our checks.

12.9-inch iPad Pro models are also largely out of stock or backordered by several weeks at resellers such as Best Buy, AT&T, and Verizon in the United States. That's in sharp contrast to the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, which remains well stocked and available to ship immediately on both Apple's website and at resellers.

Lengthy shipping times can sometimes indicate that a product refresh is imminent, but in this case, the supply chain could be to blame.

In its latest earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company underestimated iPad demand this quarter and had an issue with one of its suppliers. Cook said he does not expect the shortage to be totally resolved this quarter, and that could reasonably explain why the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is increasingly hard to find.

Apple analyst Neil Cybart of Above Avalon said Apple has been experiencing "increasingly noticeable supply chain troubles," as evidenced by long shipping estimates on products that launched months ago, such as Apple Watch Series 2 and AirPods. With a 2-3 week wait, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro can be added to that list.

Rumors suggest Apple will launch an all-new 10.5-inch iPad Pro with slimmer bezels as early as March—or as late as the second half of this year per hit-and-miss supply chain source DigiTimes. Apple is also expected to release updated 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models with faster A10X processors.

Japanese blog Mac Otakara said the next-generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro will feature a True Tone display like its current 9.7-inch counterpart, using advanced four-channel ambient light sensors to automatically adapt the color and intensity of the display to match the light in the surrounding environment.

The new 12.9-inch iPad Pro will also gain the 9.7-inch iPad Pro's same 12-megapixel rear-facing iSight camera and True Tone flash, and it will allegedly still have a 3.5mm headphone jack, according to the blog.

"We've got some exciting things coming on iPad and I'm optimistic about where things are headed," Cook said last week.