MacRumors

Amazon is seemingly working on an extended-reality (XR) device that could rival similar efforts from Apple, Meta, Google, and Samsung, according to several job listings.

According to a number of job listings spotted by protocol, Amazon has been looking to fill senior roles for computer vision scientists, designers, program managers, product managers, researchers, and technologists in the augmented-reality (AR) and virtual-reality (VR) space.

A listing for a Senior Technical Program Manager in New Products said that the hire "will develop an advanced XR research concept into a magical and useful new-to-world consumer product," suggesting that the company is looking to establish a new product category. The listing has since been edited to remove references to extended reality.

Another role describes Amazon's initiative related to "XR/AR devices," explaining that hires will be part of "a greenfield development effort" that will include "developing code for early prototypes through mass production." The company is also seeking UX designers to work on "the core system interface along with end-user applications spanning from multi-modal interfaces to 3D AR entertainment experiences," suggesting that applicants should be able to "think spatially, with 3D design experience in motion design, animation [and] AR/VR, games."

In March, the company reportedly launched a new "Futures Design" group headed by Kharis O'Connell, who previously worked for AR headset maker Meta View and Google, helping to design AR operating systems.

Amazon has not been at the forefront of rumors related to new AR and VR hardware, with companies such as Meta and Apple possessing much larger teams working on competitive future AR and VR products. Meta is heavily investing in AR and VR, to the extent that it is said to be causing workplace disruption, and Google is believed to have around 300 employees working on an AR headset that is rumored to use an array of sensors and cameras to project computer-generated content onto the real world.

After reports of Samsung significantly falling behind in the rush to bring AR and VR devices to market, partially due to its "obsession" with foldable smartphones, it is now said to be co-developing an AR device with Microsoft and DigiLens, with the product rumored to feature "hologram" technology and an Exynos chip.

While Apple's mixed-reality headset was widely believed to be scheduled to launch this year, a recent report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman cast doubt on the chances of the device emerging in 2022 due to development problems, with 2023 now looking more likely. Nevertheless, Apple's headset project is said to be "approaching liftoff," with the device mirroring the development timeline of the Apple Watch in the period before its launch. Apple's work on the headset's operating system, realityOS, has been rumored since 2017, but the existence of the operating system was recently confirmed when references to it were found in App Store upload logs and Apple open-source code.

The headset is rumored to feature a lightweight design, two 4K micro-OLED displays, 15 optical modules, two main processors, Wi-Fi 6E connectivity, eye tracking, a see-through AR mode, object tracking, hand gesture controls, and more. The device's exact price point is as yet unclear, but some reports indicate that it could cost customers around $3,000.

Like Apple, Amazon has a history of filing for patents related to smart glasses, and the company has already launched Echo Frames, which offers an audio-only experience with the Alexa voice assistant.

Apple's 14-inch MacBook Pro (M1 Pro, 8-core CPU, 512GB) has returned to its previous all-time low price of $1,749.99, down from $1,999.00. This sale price will be reflected after you add the MacBook Pro to your cart on Amazon and receive an automatic coupon worth $200.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

At a total of $249 off the original price of the 14-inch MacBook Pro, this remains the best deal we've ever tracked on this model. Only Space Gray is on sale this time around, and the earliest estimates place an April 24 delivery date for this model.

You can find even more discounts on other MacBooks by visiting our Best Deals guide for MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. In this guide we track the steepest discounts for the newest MacBook models every week, so be sure to bookmark it and check back often if you're shopping for a new Apple notebook.

Apple today published its 2022 Environmental Progress Report, setting out the company's ongoing efforts to reduce its impact on the environment and combat climate change, as well as new details about its increased use of recycled materials.

Apple has introduced certified recycled gold and more than doubled its use of recycled tungsten, rare earth elements, and cobalt. Almost 20 percent of all material in Apple products last year was recycled, which is the company's highest-ever use of recycled content.

The company highlighted that in 2021, 59 percent of the aluminum, 45 percent of the rare earth elements, 30 percent of the tin, and 13 percent of the cobalt Apple shipped in its products came from recycled sources, and plastics accounted for just four percent of packaging. All new iPhone, iPad, AirPods, and Mac models feature 100 percent recycled tin in the solder of their main logic boards, and Apple is using recycled gold in the plating of the main logic board and wire in the front camera and the rear cameras of iPhone 13 and ‌iPhone 13‌ Pro.

Apple today announced "Taz," a machine that helps to recover materials from recycled electronics, and explained how it seeks to reduce mining by recovering more materials from existing devices.

Taz, a machine that uses new shredder-like technology to separate magnets from audio modules and recover more rare earth elements, is the latest in a series of recycling advancements spearheaded by Apple. The company has also further expanded the capabilities of its patented iPhone disassembly robot Daisy to take apart 23 models of iPhone, and has offered to license those patents to other companies and researchers free of charge. An additional robot, Dave, disassembles Taptic Engines, helping to recover valuable rare earth magnets, tungsten, and steel.

See the full PDF version of Apple's 2022 Environmental Progress Report for more information about the company's work to become carbon neutral across its global supply chain, promote renewable energy, use materials more safely, reduce waste, extend the lifetime of devices with refurbishment, and more.

In addition, Apple shared new ways for customers to celebrate Earth Day, such as finding green spaces in Apple Maps, nature-inspired yoga, meditation, cycling, rowing, and treadmill workouts in Apple Fitness+, as well as new episodes of Time to Run in Yosemite National Park and Time to Walk with Dr. Jane Goodall, and a new augmented reality experience on Snapchat. Apple News, Apple Books, Apple Podcasts, the Apple TV app, and the App Store will feature curated collections of content with opportunities to experience the natural world.

After completing any workout of 30 minutes or more on April 22, all Apple Watch users can earn a limited-edition award, and from today to April 22, Apple will donate $1 to World Wildlife Fund for each purchase made with Apple Pay on apple.com, in the Apple Store app, or at an ‌Apple Store‌.

Following a number of enthusiasts successfully adding a USB-C port to the iPhone, engineer Ken Pillonel has explained how he added a fully functional Lightning port, including support for charging and data transfer, to a Samsung Galaxy A51.

After posting a preview of the project earlier this month, Pillonel has now shown how he completed the conversion in detail. The complex process involved working around the device's limited internal space, circumventing Apple's proprietary software checks for the Lightning connector, micro-soldering, and 3D-printing a custom connector.

Upon posting the preview of the project, Pillonel told Engadget that it was "a complex modification that required some out-of-the-box thinking."

The Lightning cables sold by Apple are not "dumb." They will only charge Apple devices. So I had to find a way to trick the cable into thinking it was plugged into an Apple device. And the whole thing needs to fit inside the phone, which is another challenge in itself.

Pillonel admitted that "the quality of the finished product is nowhere near what it was for the iPhone," but he doesn't expect "anyone in their right mind" to want to do this to their device. "It was for fun, I just wanted to see if I could do it," he explained, adding that such projects serve as a great example of what can be achieved with devices, even without the help of the companies that originally made them.

Pillonel was the first to gain notoriety for modifying an ‌iPhone‌ X to add a functional USB-C port, which went on to sell for over $86,000 at auction.

You can take up to $100 off Apple's iPad Pro lineup today on Amazon, with the best deals focused on the 11-inch models. Prices start at $699.99 for the 128GB Wi-Fi 11-inch iPad Pro, which is down from $799.00 and an all-time low price.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Additionally, the 256GB Wi-Fi 11-inch iPad Pro is down to $799.99, from $899.00. This is another record low deal that's currently only available on Amazon. For both sales, you can get the 11-inch iPad Pro in either Silver or Space Gray at these prices.

If you're looking for the larger model, the entry level 128GB Wi-Fi 12.9-inch iPad Pro is at its usual discount price of $999.00, down from $1,099.00. This is an all-time low price and it's only available in Silver on Amazon.

For even more iPad deals, head to our full Best Deals guide for iPad. In that guide we track the best discounts online for iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro.

iPhone production in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou is "proceeding well" despite lockdowns and restrictions being imposed in the area, according to managers at Foxconn cited by Henan Daily (via Bloomberg).

Following in the footsteps of Shanghai, Zhengzhou has decided to impose new restrictions, including lockdowns and mass COVID-19 testing. Despite this, Foxconn's massive assembly plant in the city, nicknamed by locals the "‌iPhone‌ City," is seeing limited disruptions, with the production of Apple devices proceeding as usual.

"Production at the Foxconn campus is proceeding well with some 200,000 workers," the newspaper said, citing Foxconn managers within the compound. The Taiwanese company is cooperating with local government and putting measures in place to ensure worker safety. "The supply lines haven't been affected by Covid."

The restrictions were first imposed last week and come amid a continued constrained supply chain. At the moment, iPad and ‌iPhone‌ supplies seem to be uninterrupted, but Apple's Mac line continues to face supply chain issues and delays for customers. Two Apple suppliers, Pegatron and Quanta, recently said they would suspend production of Apple devices due to the new lockdowns and restrictions.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News 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 has added cycling directions for several parts of the Midwest, including Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Charleston.

According to Apple Maps enthusiast Justin O'Beirne, the updated coverage reportedly includes all of Ohio and West Virginia, as well as parts of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Virginia.

Since the beginning of April, Apple has been quietly adding cycling directions for parts of the Northeast, which suggests to O'Beirne that Texas and the Gulf Coast could receive coverage next, based on the pattern of Apple's map expansions.

Cycling directions take into account elevation, how busy a street is, and whether there are stairs along the route. The feature launched last year in a limited number of regions, and Apple has been gradually expanding support since.

Apple maintains a list of all of the areas where cycling directions are available on its website, but the latest locations have yet to be added. Outside of the U.S., cycling directions are officially available in Barcelona and London as well as cities in Canada and in mainland China.

Telegram Messenger has released a new update for iPhone and iPad that lets users set a custom sound for notifications, in addition to a number of other new features.

Following the update, custom alert tones can be created in the app from short audio files and voice messages that are under five seconds and up to 300KB in size.

Multiple custom alerts can be created and assigned to individual chats or entire groups of chats, and Telegram has set up its own Notification Sounds channel with some samples to get users started.

For those who don't want to be constantly inundated by notifications, this update also introduces custom mute durations. Telegram users have long been able to temporarily mute chats for pre-defined durations, but now it's also possible to pause notifications for a specific custom duration.

Each chat has been given a streamlined menu for modifying alerts, where users can choose Disable Sound to receive notifications silently, or one of the Mute options to turn off notifications completely.

Elsewhere in this update, Telegram has improved in-app message translation in iOS, added a new interface for changing phone numbers, and thrown in more animated emoji including a "Food that moves" category.

Further details about other more nuanced changes and improvements to the Telegram interface can be found on the developers' blog. Telegram version 8.7 is available now on the App Store for ‌‌iPhone‌‌ and ‌‌iPad‌‌.

Back in July, rumors suggested that Apple was pursuing streaming rights for the National Football League's "Sunday Ticket" package, and as of this week, there is a report suggesting that the deal could already be done.

NFL Sunday Ticket has been described as "Apple's to lose" by Matthew Belloni of Puck News in a report that's been making the rounds today. In fact, he says that the deal is "actually done" according to one of his sources, and is being kept quiet at the behest of Apple.

My sources say it's Apple's to lose, at this point. (One source told me this weekend that the deal is actually done and is being kept quiet at Apple's request, which I haven't confirmed and don't know for a fact; Apple isn't commenting.) That would make sense: Even after winning top Emmys and the best picture Oscar, C.E.O. Tim Cook has said Apple is merely in its early days of premium video, and nothing is more premium than NFL football. Plus, it would explain Apple's recent foray into live events and advertising with MLB games.

Given that the information comes from unspecified sources and has yet to be confirmed, it should be viewed with some skepticism at this point. Apple was in talks with NFL executives last year, but there was competition from other TV networks and tech firms like Amazon.

Sunday Ticket airs on DirecTV, but rights are up for auction as the NFL's DirecTV deal is expiring after the 2022 season. DirecTV paid around $1.5 billion for the games, but whoever wins the rights for the 2023 season will likely pay around $2.5 billion.

Should Apple win the bid for Sunday Ticket, out-of-market fans will be able to watch non-prime time games from all 32 NFL teams on Apple TV+. Sunday Ticket would join Friday Night Baseball, which Apple airs each Friday as part of a deal with Major League Baseball.

T-Mobile provided the fastest cellular service in the United States during the first quarter of 2022, according to Ookla. For those unfamiliar, Ookla is the company behind the popular Speedtest bandwidth measurement service, and it regularly releases reports on connectivity speeds.

The median T-Mobile download speed was 117.83Mb/s on modern chipsets, while Verizon came in second with median download speeds of 62.62Mb/s, and AT&T placed third with 56.10Mb/s. T-Mobile's median connectivity speeds have increased since the fourth quarter of 2021, when it was measuring in at 90.65Mb/s.

When considering just 5G connectivity, T-Mobile again had the fastest median download speed at 191.12Mb/s, followed by Verizon at 107.25Mb/s and AT&T at 68.43Mb/s.

T-Mobile has the largest 5G network of the three carriers because it has used 600MHz low-band spectrum for 5G coverage across the United States. 5G coverage from AT&T and Verizon is more limited in availability at this time, but it can also hit higher maximum speeds in urban areas.

T-Mobile and Verizon tied for lowest median latency at 31 ms, with AT&T coming in at 34 ms. T-Mobile also won the top "consistency score" with 88.3 percent of results showing at least 5Mb/s download and 1Mb/s upload speeds. Verizon came in second at 84.6 percent and AT&T was third at 82.1 percent.

Minnesota, the District of Columbia, Rhode Island, Illinois, and New Jersey had some of the fastest median download and upload speeds in the United States during the quarter, with St. Paul, Minnesota winning out as the city with the fastest speeds (136.72Mb/s median download speeds).

Ookla's website has additional carrier-specific information about connectivity speeds in the United States, with details available in its full Q1 2022 report.

ZAGG is marking the end of tax season with a new sitewide sale that's taking 25 percent off all of ZAGG and Mophie's best charging and protection accessories. This discount does not require any coupon code and will be applied automatically in the cart.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

In regards to Mophie products, this includes wireless chargers, power banks, and battery cases. This will exclude items that are already marked down, and you can only get 25 percent off up to three items. ZAGG's sale will last through tomorrow, April 19 at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time.

There are a variety of power banks on sale at Mophie, including the Snap+ Juice Pack Mini, which is compatible with iPhone 12 and 13 MagSafe and is down to $37.46, from $49.95. There are regular portable batteries as well, including the Powerstation XXL ($44.96), Powerstation Ultra ($59.96), and more.

For higher-priced items, you can save big on Mophie's 4-in-1 Wireless Charging Mat, discounted to $112.46 during the sale, down from $149.95. Mophie also sells a 3-in-1 Travel Charger with MagSafe, priced at $112.46, down from $149.95.

There are plenty of other accessories on sale during this event, including car mounts, Apple Watch chargers, iPhone battery cases, screen protectors, and audio equipment. You can head to ZAGG's website to browse the full sale across all of its brands before the sale ends tomorrow. Be sure to visit our full Deals Roundup to shop for even more Apple-related products and accessories.

Gallaudet University has announced that Apple CEO Tim Cook will deliver the university's commencement address next month. Located in Washington, D.C., Gallaudet says it is the only university in the world where Deaf and hard of hearing students live and learn bilingually in American Sign Language and English.

Cook will speak alongside Gallaudet University student Molly Feanny, who will be the undergraduate student speaker at the commencement.

"I am beyond proud and honored to share that Tim Cook will be our 2022 commencement speaker," said Roberta J. Cordano, president of Gallaudet University. "Tim is a remarkable visionary, truly one of the great CEOs of our time who, without question, will leave a lasting imprint for generations to come. As the leader of one of the most admired brands in the world, Tim has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to diversity, inclusion, representation and accessibility – values that matter deeply to our Gallaudet community and so many other underrepresented groups."

The announcement comes after Apple TV+ film "CODA" won an Academy Award for Best Picture. The film revolves around a young woman named Ruby, the sole hearing member of a Deaf family. Using sign language, Ruby acts as an interpreter for her parents while working for her family's struggling fishing boat business. Cordano said the film is "one the most authentic representations of deaf people and their families in the history of cinema."

Gallaudet's 152nd undergraduate commencement ceremony will take place on Gallaudet's campus on Friday, May 13 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time.

Cook has delivered commencement addresses at several universities in the United States, including Stanford, Duke, Auburn, MIT, and others.

Apple's 64GB Wi-Fi iPad has dropped to a new all-time low price of $289.99 today on Amazon, down from $329.00. This sale price will only appear once you reach the checkout screen and a coupon worth $19.01 is automatically applied to the order

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

This time, the sale price is only available in Silver, and among the major Apple resellers only Amazon has this low of a markdown. Shipping has been slightly delayed, and delivery estimates mark May 4-6 for free Prime delivery. This sale will likely expire soon, so be sure to lock in the deal now before delivery slips even more.

For even more iPad deals, head to our full Best Deals guide for iPad. In that guide we track the best discounts online for iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, and iPad Pro.

Apple is still working on a new HomePod product that combines a speaker, Apple TV functions, and a FaceTime camera, according to reliable Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman.

In the Q&A section of his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman said he "absolutely" thinks that a new ‌HomePod‌ is coming that will likely be "at the center of Apple's approach" to the home.

Q: Do you think a new HomePod or home device is still coming?
A: I absolutely do think a new HomePod is coming — specifically, a device that combines a HomePod, Apple TV and FaceTime camera. I don't think a big stand-alone HomePod is still in development, but perhaps a new HomePod mini is coming. In any case, the combination product will probably be at the center of Apple's approach, with HomePod minis surrounding that throughout the home.

Gurman first suggested last year that Apple was working on a combined ‌Apple TV‌ with ‌HomePod‌ speaker that has a camera for video calls through a connected television set. In April 2021, Gurman said the device's other capabilities would include standard ‌Apple TV‌ box functions like watching video and gaming plus smart speaker uses such as playing music and using Apple's Siri digital assistant.

At the time of the original report, the product was said to be in the early stages, and that Apple could choose not to launch the product or change key features. However, based on Gurman's latest reading of the situation, Apple's original plans are still firmly in place.

Apple discontinued its original high-end ‌‌HomePod‌‌ in March 2021, which left many wondering if the company was working on a successor. The HomePod mini, a smaller version of the ‌HomePod‌ which launched in 2020, has been much more popular thanks to its lower price, so it wouldn't be surprising if Apple eventually launched another version of the ‌HomePod mini‌ down the line with new features, as Gurman suggests. But what a device would look like that combines a ‌HomePod‌, ‌Apple TV‌, and ‌FaceTime‌ camera still remains unclear.

In a rare media interview, Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies, Johny Srouji, discussed Apple's transition to Apple silicon for the Mac, the challenges of developing chips for the Mac amid a global health crisis, and more.

The interview with The Wall Street Journal offers a unique glimpse at Srouji, who is often seen during Apple events discussing Apple's latest chip for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac and serves on Apple's leadership team.

Srouji joined Apple in 2008 and was tasked with leading the development of chips for the ‌iPhone‌ and in 2015 Srouji joined the company's leadership, reporting directly to CEO Tim Cook. Through his work leading the team that builds chips for all of Apple's products, Srouji's team's influence and importance in product development at Apple grew significantly over the years, according to a former Apple manager.

A former engineering manager said Mr. Srouji's team had become central to product development and his influence quietly grew over the years, especially as he demonstrated the ability to balance engineering needs and business imperatives.

Srouji's team at first consisted of around 45 engineers, but now includes over a thousand spread out across the world. One challenge that Srouji's team was uniquely equipped to handle was the global health crisis, which pushed remote work to become the norm.

"What I learned in life: You think through all of the things you can control and then you have to be flexible and adaptive and strong enough to navigate when things don't go to plan," Mr. Srouji, Apple senior vice president of hardware technologies, said in a rare interview. "Covid was one for example."

As the global health crisis began, Apple was in the stages of validating the M1 chip, the company's first Apple silicon chip for the Mac. The validation process includes engineers carefully inspecting the chips, their transistors, and every component. Due to the circumstances deeming this impossible, Srouji's team had to set up cameras throughout labs that they would then use to remotely inspect each and every chip.

Delaying the progress of new chips wasn't an option. So Mr. Srouji worked to design a new testing process on the fly. The team set up cameras throughout the labs so engineers could inspect the chips remotely, people familiar with the work said. It was the kind of change that would have once been hard to imagine from Apple, where secrecy and control are paramount.

In part, the operation was able to pivot so seamlessly because Mr. Srouji's team is spread out around the globe, already accustomed to conducting business through video calls and working across time zones as they coordinated work in far-flung locations such as San Diego and Munich, Germany, two places where the company is investing billions to expand into designing chips for its wireless-technology capabilities.

A more technical challenge that Srouji's team faced was building Apple silicon chips for that Mac that tailor to the wide range of Mac products, from the lowest-end MacBook Air to the highest-end Mac Pro that currently costs well into the tens of thousands of dollars.

As Apple’s hardware engineers sought to design the chips as efficiently as possible for its particular needs, the company’s software designers tuned the computers to favor the specifications it most desired, such as smooth videogame graphics.

"First and foremost, if we do this, can we deliver better products?" Mr. Srouji said of the debate. "That's the No. 1 question. It's not about the chip. Apple is not a chip company."

Next, he said, the team had to figure out if it could deliver and execute while building up the muscle to handle more products and predicting where technology was going. Apple would need to stay on top of developing components for next-generation products while pumping out hundreds of millions of devices a year.

"I don’t do it once and call it a day," Mr. Srouji said. "It is year after year after year. That’s a huge effort."

Behind closed doors, Srouji is "known for demanding hard truths with the axiom that his meetings focus on problems, not successes," according to the report.

Apple's latest and most powerful chip, the M1 Ultra, is a combination of two M1 Max chips put together. As for what's next for the Mac and Apple as a whole, Srouji remained tight-lipped in typical Apple fashion, saying "I’m not going to talk about any of that."

A photo claiming to show molds of Apple’s upcoming iPhone 14 series models has appeared online, offering another preview of the relative sizes of the rumored devices.

It's worth bearing in mind that the molds shown in the image sourced from Weibo have likely been made for use in the production of third-party iPhone cases rather than actual handsets. Still, they do appear to line up with unconfirmed details we've been hearing over recent months, particularly with regard to the dimensions of the devices.

The first notable difference in the lineup is the lack of an iPhone mini model. iPhone sizes are changing in 2022, and Apple is eliminating the 5.4-inch iPhone as it turned out to be unpopular with customers.

After seeing lackluster iPhone mini sales, Apple is offering larger iPhone sizes for its flagship devices: A 6.1-inch iPhone 14, a 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro, a 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Max, and a 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max. The iPhone 14 models are expected to look like the iPhone 13 models with the same flat-edged design.

Slight camera bump size changes are expected across the lineup. According to ‌iPhone 14 Pro‌ Max schematics shared by Max Weinbach, the camera bump on the 2022 high-end ‌iPhone‌ will be 4.17 mm thick, or 0.57 mm larger than the bump on the iPhone 13 Pro Max.

The space that the bump occupies on the back of the ‌‌iPhone‌‌ will also increase in size by about 5% in each dimension, going from the current width of 35.01 mm to 36.73 mm and height of 36.24 mm to 38.21 mm. We've yet to learn what the relative changes on the standard iPhone 14 models could be.

These camera bump changes are also expected to usher in improvements to the Ultra Wide camera. Rumors have suggested the iPhone 14 Pro models could see significant improvements to the wide-angle camera and updates to the telephoto lens.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the 2022 Pro iPhone models will feature a 48-megapixel Wide camera, which would be a major improvement over the current 12-megapixel camera, and 8K video recording capabilities.

While the image only shows the rear of the devices, the 2022 iPhone 14 Pro models are expected to eliminate the notch in favor of some combination of a circular hole-punch cutout for the camera paired with a pill-shaped cutout. This change is expected to be limited to the Pro models, while the standard iPhone 14 models will continue to feature the notch.

Apple is expected to introduce the iPhone 14 models at an event that's likely to be held in September 2022, if Apple follows previous launch timelines. Be sure to check out our dedicated guides for iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro for much more information on what we know.

We're less than two months out from WWDC, and Apple-related rumors are surfacing with increasing frequency. The latest batch includes an overview of upcoming Macs based on the next-generation M2 chip family, plans for the Apple Watch Series 8 and future models, what might be Apple's first USB charger with multiple ports, and a few software details about iOS 16.

Other news this week included an Apple goof that saw users temporarily unable to update the firmware on their Studio Displays, lots of discussion about Meta's plan to take nearly 50% commissions on virtual goods in the metaverse even as it argues against Apple's App Store commissions, and more, so read on for all of the details!

Apple Testing at Least Nine New Macs With Four Different M2 Chip Variants

Apple is internally testing several variants of the next-generation M2 chip and the updated Macs that will be equipped with them, reports Bloomberg, citing developer logs. There are "at least" nine new Macs in development that use four different M2 chips that are successors to the current M1 chips.

The machines include M2-based MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini models, while more powerful 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models and a new Mac Pro will use M2 variants such as the M2 Pro and M2 Max and a successor to the M1 Ultra currently found in the high-end Mac Studio.

New Apple Watch Health Features Coming This Year, but Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Sensors Delayed

We're expecting to see as many as three new Apple Watch models later this year, and while it looks like we may be getting some new health-related features such as a body temperature sensor on the most advanced models, a couple of long-rumored sensors for blood pressure and blood sugar don't appear to be ready for prime time yet.

Some of those features will be integrated with new health-related enhancements in iOS 16, which we're also starting to hear a bit about. It sounds like we won't be getting a significant redesign, but there will be some tweaks to notifications and other aspects.

Apple's Rumored Dual USB-C Port Charger Allegedly Shown in Leaked Images

Following last week's discovery of a premature mention of an upcoming 35W dual USB-C charger from Apple, we've now seen some alleged leaked images of the U.S. version of the device, which includes foldable prongs and ports on the side of the charger.

There's been a bit of confusion as similar chargers from Mophie and white-label knockoff accessory makers are also surfacing, but it looks like Apple will also be getting into the game.

Studio Display Update Issue Fixed as Apple Addresses Code-Signing Issue

Over the weekend, users of Apple's new Studio Display found themselves unable to update the firmware of the device due to an apparent oversight by Apple which left the latest version unsigned by Apple for several days.

When Apple stopped signing iOS 15.4 earlier this month to help keep users on the latest iOS 15.4.1 update, it appears the company forgot there was no 15.4.1 update available for the Studio Display, leaving no current version authorized by Apple for installation. The issue was resolved by Apple on Monday, and users are once again able to update their displays.

Apple Says Plan for Nearly 50% Commission on Metaverse Purchases 'Lays Bare Meta's Hypocrisy'

While Meta, better known as Facebook, and founder Mark Zuckerberg have repeatedly slammed Apple's 15–30% commissions on App Store in-app purchases, Meta has revealed that it will be taking a nearly 50% commission on digital assets in its "metaverse."

The revelation immediately sparked comments about Meta's hypocritical stance on commissions, and Apple wasn't shy about weighing in, saying that it "goes to show that while they seek to use Apple's platform for free, they happily take from the creators and small businesses that use their own."

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