MacRumors

Japanese website Nikkei is continuing the 2016 doom and gloom sentiment surrounding iPhone sales, reporting that an unnamed source has confirmed that sales figures and shipment numbers for Apple's smartphone lineup will see the first year-over-year decline since the iPhone debuted in 2007. The website cites "lukewarm demand for a new model" and a lack of innovation as the major reasons behind the predicted sales decline.

Specifically, iPhone shipments in 2016 are estimated to total between 210 and 220 million units, which would be a drop off of as much as 8.6 percent from 2015. The "people familiar with the matter" within Hon Hai Precision Industries noted that one of the company's executives described a lower iPhone demand for the remainder of this year, lasting "until at least early next year."

"Hon Hai Precision Industry Chairman Terry Gou has told his staff that the demand for iPhones will remain feeble until at least early next year," a source said. Hon Hai, better known as Foxconn Technology Group, declined to comment.

Gou told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in China in late May that the company's overall orders were falling this year, although Foxconn did receive a sudden rush of orders in April and May. Foxconn makes about 70% of iPhones sold globally.

Whether that means the supplier would begin working on the expected mega-cycle "iPhone 8," or another mid-cycle upgrade similar to the iPhone SE, early in 2017 is unclear. Nikkei's sources opine that Apple's attempt to shake up an upgrade cycle with no notable new hardware features by introducing new colors -- seemingly referring to the recently rumored Deep Blue -- proves "that the company now has no way of breaking out of the current doldrums."

Still, the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus could come with a few notable new hardware revisions, namely a dual-lens camera that would allow for 2-3x optical zoom capabilities, clearer and brighter images, and the ability for users to refocus an image after taking a picture. Otherwise, the handsets are expected to remain largely in line with the iPhone 6s design, besides the potential removal of the headphone jack and redesigned set of antennae bands.

Microsoft has overhauled its Xbox app for iOS, bringing new features and a look that's more in line with its Windows 10 range of mobile apps.

The "Xbox One SmartGlass" app, which is now titled simply "Xbox", enables an iOS device to function as a remote control to maneuver through the Xbox One's dashboard. It also displays information on the device when playing music or TV through the console, and can be used to browse the web.

As part of the refresh, the Activity Feed now becomes the main home screen of the app and gains a more personalized feel, with screenshots and game clips appearing in it that have been shared by friends.

Trending content has also been added to the feed, for users to find out what is popular on Xbox Live.

Other social media changes include the ability to add Facebook friends to a user's Xbox players list, a Contacts friend finder, real name sharing, the addition of Game Hubs, and redesigned user profiles.

Microsoft has also updated the Xbox One navigation and media controls within the app.

Microsoft is expected to unveil a new Xbox One S console, new games, and more today at E3 2016, the annual game conference and show at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Xbox is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Chinese car-hailing service Didi Chuxing revealed today that it has secured a $600 million investment from China Life Insurance Company Ltd, one month after it raised $1 billion courtesy of Apple (via Fortune).

China Life is the largest insurer in the Asia-Pacific region by market value. The agreed investment reportedly includes equity of $300 million and a long-term borrowing commitment of $305 million, the companies said in a statement.

"The two parties will also collaborate on investment opportunities in mobile transportation and related sectors in China and beyond," the statement said.

The company's fund-rasing efforts are aimed at helping it fend off Uber's encroachment into China. Earlier this month, Uber raised $3.5 billion in resources from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, while Apple CEO Tim Cook called Apple's investment in Didi a strategic move that would help the Cupertino company better understand the Chinese market.

In related news, Uber announced last week that users of the service will now be able to reserve rides from 30 minutes to 30 days in advance.

The pre-booking option was introduced in Seattle on Thursday and will extend to other "top business travel cities" in the near future, Uber revealed in a blog post.

The feature is currently limited to the company's low-cost Uber X service, which operates its fleet of non-luxury cars.

Users of the Uber app need only to select "uberX" and tap "Schedule a ride", whereupon they can set a pickup date, time, location, and destination, confirm their details, and tap "Schedule uberX".

The decision to offer a pre-booking option marks a shift away from the company's original "on-demand" ethos, and follows in the footsteps of Lyft, which began testing a similar service in May in San Francisco.

"Scheduled rides have been a top requested feature at Uber since the very early days," said Tom Fallows, Uber's director of global experiences. "Even though we're an on-demand company we totally get it. Sometimes you want that extra reassurance."

Facebook has begun notifying users who upload photos from their iOS devices that their synced albums will be deleted next month (via TechCrunch).

Facebook's iOS photo syncing feature was launched in 2012, and let users automatically upload all photos on their mobile devices to a private album called 'Synced' or 'Synced from Phone'.

The idea behind the feature was that copying the photos makes it easier to find and share pictures with friends on the social network.

Users are now being informed by email and via app notifications that these albums will cease to exist on July 7, and that they should either download the albums, or install the company's photo-centric Moments app to retain their uploaded status.

News of the change has seen the Moments app shoot up the App Store's Top Free Apps chart, where it currently ranks #2 ahead of Facebook's hugely popular Messenger app, which sits at #3.

The forced adoption of yet another Facebook app has caused consternation among a number of social media account holders, who were subject to a similar heavy-handed approach in early 2014.

I'm gonna delete @facebook from my phone before I install Messenger AND Moments! Facebook is the new MySpace. https://t.co/ewszcNBEGY

— Ray Ulrich (@ulrichray) June 2, 2016

On that occasion, the company pushed all users to download Facebook Messenger after it removed the chat feature from its flagship app. Messenger has remained among the App Store's top-ranking free apps ever since.

This month, the company also announced that it would be removing chat from its mobile web app too, leaving users with no other option but to download Messenger if they want to continue using the feature on their phones or tablets.

In related news, Facebook announced this week that it has begun rolling out a new 360-degree photo feature across the social network, which will let users view uploaded panoramic shots and 360-degree photos in a more immersive way.

Photos compatible with the 360 feature are identified by a compass icon on the right-hand side of the shot once it has been uploaded. Mobile users can explore a photo by tapping and dragging it or by moving their phone, while desktop users can click and drag it with their mouse or trackpad.

Moments is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Amazon is planning on launching a new standalone music streaming service that would compete against Apple Music and Spotify, reports Reuters. The new service will be priced similarly to rival services and will feature a "competitive catalog."

The service will be offered at $9.99 per month, in line with major rivals, and it will offer a competitive catalog of songs, the sources said. Amazon is finalizing licenses with labels for the service, which likely will be launched in late summer or early fall, the sources said.

Amazon currently offers Prime Music to Amazon Prime members as a perk, but the service only boasts a catalog of 1 million songs. Comparatively, both Apple Music and Spotify boast catalogs of over 30 million songs.

The online retailer is looking to launch a new streaming service because it "believes a comprehensive music service is important" in its effort to be a "one-stop shop for content and goods." Amazon Prime, in addition to free shipping options, currently offers subscribers access to the Prime Video streaming service, Prime Music, unlimited photo storage and the Kindle Owner's Lending Library, which includes 800,000 free ebooks.

Reuters suggests Amazon's music strategy will be two-pronged, with basic streaming for Prime users and a more robust alternative for an extra fee. Amazon recently debuted Amazon Prime Video as a standalone service, allowing users to subscribe for $8.99 a month without paying for the full $99 Amazon Prime bundle. The standalone Prime Video service is identical to the service offered with Amazon Prime.

Amazon Music with Prime Music, the company's current music app, is free on the App Store and allows users to play their digital music purchased from Amazon.com. The app also allows Prime members to listen to its catalog of a million songs ad-free as well as curated playlists and radio stations.

Earlier this year, rumors suggested Apple would expand Apple Pay to allow iOS users to make purchases from websites, and now Digital Trends says Apple will indeed introduce such a feature at WWDC.

Starting on Monday, Apple Pay will reportedly be able to be used to make purchases from select partner websites, serving as an alternative to PayPal. As with all Apple Pay transactions, purchases from websites will be confirmed using the Touch ID fingerprint sensor on the iPhone.

It is not known if the feature will be limited to Safari and only available on iOS devices. We have heard rumors suggesting Apple plans to allow the iPhone to be used to unlock a password-protected Mac using Bluetooth, and if such a feature is implemented, it could also presumably be used to approve web-based purchases on a Mac.

Based on our source's information, it's unclear whether you will be able to use Apple Pay on the web from a device that does not have a fingerprint sensor, such as a MacBook or a PC. It's also unknown whether a specific browser will be required to make purchases with Apple Pay online.

At the current time, Apple Pay can be used to make purchases in brick and mortar stores and in third-party apps that support the service. An expansion of Apple Pay to the Safari browser will alleviate the need for customers to download a store's app to make a payment with Apple Pay, resulting in a payment service that is simpler to use and more accessible.

Apple Pay could potentially be a major focus at WWDC, with other rumors hinting at Apple Pay support in new countries and person-to-person Apple Pay payments.

For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Internet of Things platform Stringify to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a Philips Hue white and color ambiance starter kit to use with the free Stringify app. [Direct Link]

Stringify is a pretty popular home automation app that's able to link together a long list of Internet-connected devices and apps, connecting products like the Nest Thermostat, Hue bulbs, and Fitbit with apps like Dropbox, Slack, Twitter, and Yelp.

Basically, Stringify is a centralized app for controlling all of your home products and automating a huge variety of actions. If you've ever used IFTTT, Stringify is similar to that, but it's more powerful because it can connect to a lot more devices. It's an app that tells your devices "when this happens, then do this."

Most people are probably familiar with the Philips Hue at this point, but if you're not, it's a line of Wi-Fi connected bulbs that are linked together via a HomeKit-enabled hub. The starter kit we're giving away includes a hub and three color bulbs, which can turn any color or any shade of white.

Stringify uses "flows" to link devices together to perform specific tasks. With Stringify and the Philips Hue, it's possible to set up complex flows involving timers and location that aren't available with the regular Hue app. Flows can also be used to get the Philips Hue to work with other connected home products, like the Nest. Some examples:

• On weekday evenings at 11 and location is at home, turn bedroom Hue lights on, set a timer, and fade off both lights.
• Every weekday between 5pm and 7pm, turn on Hue lights when leaving work.
• At 5:30 a.m. on weekdays, turn on Bedroom Hue lights, send a message with a weather report, and set the Nest thermostat to 62 degrees.

Creating flows between home products and apps is done through a simple drag and drop interface that makes it easy to set up the desired effect. With the Hue lights, there are a huge number of triggers that can be used for actions in Stringify, based on parameters like time, weather, location, and more.

Want to set a trigger to turn on the lights whenever a new story is posted on MacRumors? That's possible. Want the lights to turn blue whenever rain is forecasted? That's also possible. There are a near endless series of triggers and events you can set up with the Hue, and there's even more you can do if you own multiple Stringify-compatible products.

Stringify can be downloaded immediately and used with the products you already own, but Stringify also has a Philips Hue Starter Kit to give to one lucky MacRumors reader. 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 MacRumors Facebook 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.