MacRumors

Apple has reportedly refused to accept a price increase from its sole chip supplier, TSMC, according to Economic Daily News.

The report claims that Apple, the largest customer of TSMC, has rejected the supplier's plans to increase chip prices next year. TSMC has been planning to increase its prices by six to nine percent, depending on the fabrication process.

TSMC's chips were already around 20 percent more expensive compared to those from its direct rivals, but smaller foundries have ramped up their own prices in recent years due to higher material and logistics costs, and TSMC has committed to $100 billion in new investment over the next three years, motivating the company to increase its prices to maintain its premium and pass added costs on to clients.

TSMC was also reportedly keen to stop its clients from canceling orders and ordering more chips than needed in the hope of securing production line space and additional support from contract chipmakers, which has made it difficult for the company to understand real demand.

Following negotiations, Apple has apparently refused to accept further price increases. TSMC makes all of Apple's custom silicon chips, but Apple is estimated to make up more than one quarter of TSMC's entire revenue, meaning that the companies are fairly reliant upon each other. An improvement in the semiconductor industry's supply outlook despite inflation is believed to have hardened Apple's refusal to acquiesce to price hikes.

Like many of Apple's suppliers, TSMC has been wrestling with supply chain issues since 2020. Last year, it was speculated that Apple may have to raise device prices to account for substantial chip price rises.

Apple has removed from the App Store all iOS apps belonging to Russian technology conglomerate VK, a move Apple says is in response to the latest round of UK sanctions on Russian oligarchs.

"These apps are being distributed by developers majority-owned or majority-controlled by one or more parties sanctioned by the UK government," said Apple spokesperson Adam Dema in a statement given to The Verge. "In order to comply with these sanctions, Apple terminated the developer accounts associated with these apps, and the apps cannot be downloaded from any App Store, regardless of location. Users who have already downloaded these apps may continue to use them."

The UK government on Monday enacted a new package of sanctions affecting tens of executives at Gazprombank, a Russian bank with links to VK. The sanctions were in response to sham referenda recently staged by Russian authorities in occupied areas of Ukraine.

The Russian Ministry of Digital Affairs told state media outlet RT that it was looking into "the reasons for deleting VK applications and developer accounts, underlining the social significance and scale of use of the services provided by the Russian company." Meanwhile, VK told Russian news outlet Interfax that the apps may continue to work but that there could be issues with notifications and payments.

VK, or VKontakte, is a social media app created in 2006 by Pavel Durov, who also founded and still runs Telegram. Durov was dismissed as CEO of VK in April 2014 after he allegedly refused to hand over the personal details of users to the Russian Federal Security Service.

Apple's removal of the apps from its ‌App Store‌ means users no longer have access to the app for social media network VK, the fourth most popular website in Russia, as well as Mail.ru and VK Music. The apps were included in a list that Apple was legally obliged to show to new iPhone owners in Russia for download during initial setup, until Apple stopped selling its products in the country.

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 today explained why iPhone users who recently updated to iOS 16 may not see the new Duplicates album in its stock Photos app, and what they can do about it.

New to iOS 16, the Photos app will automatically detect any duplicate photos and videos in users' libraries and collate them together in a Duplicates album for inspection, giving users the option to merge duplicate sets and delete redundant media.

However, many users have been in touch to say the Duplicates album has not been showing up for them after updating their iPhone software, leading them to wonder if they are doing something wrong.

In a new support document, Apple has clarified that for the Duplicates album to appear, your iPhone has to first index the photo library and find duplicates, but that this detection process requires your iPhone to be locked and connected to power.

"Depending on what tasks are running in the background and the size of your photo library, the process could happen quickly or take up to a few days to complete," adds Apple.

• iOS 16: How to Find, Merge, and Delete Duplicates in Your Photo Library

Bear in mind that if you don't have any duplicates in your library, then the Duplicates album won't show up under the "Utilities" section of the Photos app until such a time when you do.

Apple was forced to disable Fast Company's Apple News account overnight after hackers gained control of it and sent two offensive push notifications to the channel's followers.

Tweeting from its Apple News Twitter account, Apple said it had disabled Fast Company's channel following the "incredible offensive alert" that its subscribers had received on their Apple devices.

An incredibly offensive alert was sent by Fast Company, which has been hacked. Apple News has disabled their channel.

Fast Company soon confirmed the hack, saying in a tweet that it had taken down its website following the breach until it is able to secure its systems:

"Fast Company's Apple News account was hacked on Tuesday evening. Two obscene and racist push notifications were sent about a minute apart. The messages are vile and are not in line with the content of Fast Company. We are investigating the situation and have suspended the feed and shut down FastCompany.com until we are certain the situation has been resolved."

Before it disappeared, Fast Company's website included a message from the hackers "postpixel" in which they described how they had been able to execute the attack by infiltrating Fast Company's WordPress back-end, and ridiculed the publication's efforts to secure its publishing tools and administrator portal.

The hackers also claimed to have accessed thousands of employee records, which they intended to share on a forum for trading information stolen in security breaches.

In summary, it appears the hackers gained login credentials that allowed them to access Fast Company's Apple News content management system to send out the push notifications, which apparently have no moderation filter. We'll update this article if we learn more.

Logitech today announced the launch of several new mice and keyboards that have been developed for use with Apple's Macs, including Logitech's first mechanical keyboard that has been optimized for the Mac.

The MX Mechanical Mini for Mac Keyboard has a keyboard layout designed for Macs, with tools to customize shortcuts with Logi Options+. The keyboard uses Tactile Quiet low-profile switches for a quiet typing experience, and the keys are backlit. It comes in Space Gray or Pale Gray, and it can connect to three Apple devices with the Easy Switch feature.

Logitech is also making the K380 Multi-Device Keyboard for Mac available in a new blueberry color that joins existing colors like white, black, and rose. The K380 is designed to be space-saving for use wherever you are, and it is able to work with Macs, iPads, and iPhones.

As for mice, Logitech is debuting the MX Master 3S for Mac and the Lift for Mac. The MX Master 3S has a MagSpeed Electromagnetic wheel that can scroll through 1,000 lines per second, and it has an adjustable DPI that can be set between 1,000 and 8,000 for precise work on high-resolution displays. Available in Space Gray or Pale Gray, the mouse uses Quiet Clicks, and like all of Logitech's new products, it is able to connect to three devices at once.

The Lift for Mac Mouse is an ergonomic mouse that is meant to place the hand in a natural handshake position at a 57 degree angle. Logitech says that this design puts less pressure on the wrist during the day, and keeps the arm and upper body in a more natural position. The mouse is ideal for people with small to medium-sized hands.

Logitech's new products are available from the Logitech website. The MX Mechanical Mini for Mac is priced at $150, the K380 in Blueberry is priced at $40, the MX Master 3S for Mac is priced at $100, and the Lift for Mac is priced at $70.

Apple is calling off plans to increase production of its latest iPhone 14 series after an anticipated surge in demand failed to materialize, Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Apple has reportedly told suppliers to rein in efforts to increase ‌iPhone‌ 14 assembly by as much as 6 million units in the second half of the year. Apple had upgraded sales projections in the weeks leading up to the launch of ‌iPhone‌ 14, but it appears that the actual demand was not as high as expected.

As a result, Apple will aim to produce 90 million handsets for the period, which is around the same amount it produced in 2021 and in line with Apple's original forecast this summer.

As we've been hearing in the last couple of weeks, demand for ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro models is stronger than the lower-priced iPhone 14, and Apple has reportedly told one supplier to shift its production capacity from the entry-level iPhones to premium models.

China's economic slump is also impacting Apple's sales, with purchases of ‌iPhone‌ 14 models in the first three days of availability said to have been down 11 percent on last year's ‌iPhone‌ 13 series.

More widely, surging inflation, recession fears, and the war in Ukraine are all impacting global demand for consumer electronics, with the smartphone market expected to shrink by 6.5 percent this year to 1.27 billion units, according to figures quoted by Bloomberg from market tracker IDC.

Apple appears to be preparing for the upcoming launch of Apple Music Classical, a standalone classical music app that will be available alongside the ‌Apple Music‌ app.

Mentions of Apple Classical have appeared in backend code used by Apple, suggesting that we could perhaps be seeing ‌Apple Music‌ Classical debut in the near future.

‌Apple Music‌ Classical will be built around Primephonic, a classical music service that Apple purchased more than a year ago. When Apple acquired Primephonic, the company promised an improved classical music experience for ‌Apple Music‌ subscribers.

Apple said there would be a "dedicated classical music app" coming in 2022, with the app combining Primephonic's classical user interface with "more added features." With roughly 90 days to go until the end of the year, there isn't a lot of time left for Apple to make the promised 2022 timeline.

There are no new signs of ‌Apple Music‌ Classical that have been added in the iOS 16.1 beta as of yet, so Apple could be saving it for a future iOS 16 release that's planned before the end of the year.

With the latest beta of iPadOS 16.1 that was provided to developers today, the Stage Manager feature has expanded to the 2018 and 2020 iPad Pro models. We thought we'd test it out on an older ‌iPad Pro‌ to see how it works, because Apple spent several months telling us that it didn't offer a satisfactory experience on non M1 iPads.

‌Stage Manager‌ is the biggest feature of iPadOS 16, and prior to today, it was limited to the ‌M1‌ ‌iPad Pro‌ and the ‌M1‌ iPad Air, Apple's newest iPads from 2021. Older ‌iPad Pro‌ models from 2018 and 2020 were not able to use ‌Stage Manager‌, leading to complaints from iPad owners.

Apple initially said that ‌Stage Manager‌ was only able to offer the ideal experience on the ‌M1‌ iPads, but in a statement today, the company said that it was able to figure out a way to bring ‌Stage Manager‌ to ‌iPad Pro‌ models using the A12Z and A12X chips. These iPads can use ‌Stage Manager‌ on device, but will not have access to the external display integration with multi-display support.

In fact, Apple has removed external display support from the iPadOS 16.1 beta entirely, and when it is returned later this year, it will continue to be limited to ‌M1‌ ‌iPad‌ models. So the 2018 and 2020 ‌iPad Pro‌ models can use ‌Stage Manager‌, but not in its full implementation with an external display.

‌Stage Manager‌ on device is limited to four apps in use at one time, while with an external display, up to eight apps can be open. In our side-by-side testing, ‌Stage Manager‌ worked well on the 2018 ‌iPad Pro‌, though it was not as quick as the ‌M1‌ ‌iPad Pro‌.

The launch of iPadOS 16 was delayed to give Apple time to work on ‌Stage Manager‌, because it was buggy and there were complaints about its functionality. Apple has been improving it beta by beta, and it is a much smoother experience than it was a few weeks ago.

Have you tried ‌Stage Manager‌ on a 2018 or 2020 ‌iPad Pro‌? Let us know what you think in the comments.

The iPhone 14 Pro Max offers the best smartphone display on the market, according to DisplayMate's annual Display Technology Shoot-Out. Earning the "DisplayMate Best Smartphone Display Award" with an A+ Display Performance grade, the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max replaces last year's winner, the ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro Max.

While the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max has essentially the same resolution as the ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro Max, Apple has added a number of notable improvements. The LTPO OLED display ranges from 1Hz to 120Hz instead of 10Hz to 120Hz, enabling a low-power always-on display option, plus there's more available display area with the Dynamic Island.

DisplayMate found that the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max is able to hit a peak brightness of 2,300 nits, more than double the ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro Max. Apple advertises 2,000 nits peak brightness, so the testing exceeded even Apple's guidelines. HDR brightness maxed out at 1,590 nits, according to DisplayMate, a 33 percent improvement over the ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro Max.

The ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max received the following awards for smartphone display performance:

• Highest color accuracy of white
• Highest absolute color accuracy
• Smallest shift in color accuracy with APL
• Smallest maximum color shift with APL
• Highest image contrast accuracy and intensity scale accuracy
• Smallest shift in image contrast and intensity scale with APL
• Smallest change in peak luminance with APL
• Highest full screen brightness for OLED smartphones
• Highest peak display brightness
• Highest contrast ratio
• Lowest screen reflectance
• Highest contrast rating in ambient light
• Smallest brightness variation with viewing angle
• Smallest color variation of white with viewing angle
• Highest visible screen resolution

The ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max won 15 awards in total, up from the 13 earned by the ‌iPhone‌ 13 Pro Max. DisplayMate says that Apple has concentrated on improving the absolute picture quality and absolute color accuracy of OLED with precision factory display calibration, which the site says is "visually indistinguishable from perfect."

Apple's latest flagship ‌iPhone‌ offers "uniformly consistent top tier display performance" across a suite of display tests, earning it very good to excellent ratings.

Based on our extensive Lab Tests and Measurements the iPhone 14 Pro Max has a Very Impressive Excellent Top Tier World Class Smartphone Display with close to Text Book Perfect Calibration Accuracy and Performance that is Visually Indistinguishable From Perfect. Based on our objective Lab Tests and Measurements the iPhone 14 Pro Max receives a DisplayMate Best Smartphone Display Award earning DisplayMate's highest ever Display Performance Grade of A+ and setting or matching 15 Smartphone Display Performance Records including 7 that are Visually Indistinguishable From Perfect that are listed above.

The full Shoot-Out from DisplayMate goes into much more depth on the high scores earned by the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro Max and what exactly makes it the best smartphone display.

Inspired by "the most extreme activities," the Apple Watch Ultra features a rugged design with a titanium case and a flat display with a sapphire crystal cover. Apple says the watch is built to help users "push their boundaries with adventure, endurance, and exploration."

In his latest YouTube video, Sam Kohl assessed the Apple Watch Ultra's durability by subjecting the watch to some major abuse, as part of an unscientific but entertaining test. Kohl dragged the Apple Watch through some rocks on the ground, smashed it against hard objects like a concrete wall and metal pole over 50 times, and more. In the end, the titanium case was quite scuffed, but the sapphire crystal cover was still intact.

Durability tests on YouTube are often quite silly, but it is still impressive that the Apple Watch Ultra held up to this much intentional mishandling.

Apple Watch Ultra launched last Friday. In addition to having a rugged design, the high-end watch features improved water resistance up to a depth of 100 meters, a customizable bright orange "Action" button, up to 60 hours of battery life with an upcoming low power setting, a Night mode, an 86-decibel siren for emergencies, and more.

If these durability tests are your sort of thing, the Apple Watch Ultra was smashed with a sledgehammer in another recent video.

Apple today released new betas of iOS 16.1 and iPadOS 16.1 to developers, tweaking some of the functionality that's been introduced in prior betas and in the case of iPadOS 16.1, adding a major new feature to Stage Manager.

We've rounded up everything new in both betas below.

Wallpaper Updates

Apple has updated the Wallpaper section of the Settings app to allow users to swap between wallpapers from this interface. The design has also been tweaked, making the options to add new wallpaper more obvious.

Stage Manager

In the latest beta of iPadOS 16.1, Apple has expanded ‌Stage Manager‌ availability to the 2018 and 2020 iPad Pro models equipped with A12Z and A12X chips. Previously, ‌Stage Manager‌ was limited to the M1 ‌iPad Pro‌ and ‌M1‌ iPad Air models.

Apple has also removed external display support from ‌Stage Manager‌ in this beta, with the feature to return in a future update to iPadOS 16. When reintroduced, external display support will be limited to ‌M1‌ iPad models.

Matter Accessories

The Matter Accessories section added to the Settings app in prior betas has been removed.

Emergency SOS via Satellite

Apple is beginning to lay the groundwork for Emergency SOS via Satellite and Find My satellite integration, functionality that is coming to iPhone 14 models starting in November. Code in the update reveals some of the text we can expect to see.

• Send your location using a supported ‌iPhone‌ from places where there are no cellular or Wi-Fi networks.
• Send your Location via Satellite.
• This friend sent you their location via satellite because they have no other network available.
• Can send location again after X amount of time.
• X hours ago - Last time your location was sent.
• You can now text emergency services via satellite on your ‌iPhone‌.
• ‌iPhone‌ can try to use a satellite to text emergency services. When it's safe, exit the vehicle and follow the ‌iPhone‌ instructions.
• ‌iPhone‌ is texting emergency services via satellite.

Other New Features

Know of a new feature in iOS 16.1 that we left out? Let us know in the comments below.

The most recent beta of iPadOS 16.1 expands the controversial Stage Manager feature to older iPads, allowing it to work with iPad Pro models that have an A12X or A12Z chip, according to information Apple provided to Engadget.

The beta also removes the external display support from ‌Stage Manager‌ for the current time, with the feature set to return in a later iPadOS 16 update. Apple's statement on the matter:

We introduced Stage Manager as a whole new way to multitask with overlapping, resizable windows on both the iPad display and a separate external display, with the ability to run up to eight live apps on screen at once. Delivering this multi-display support is only possible with the full power of M1-based iPads. Customers with iPad Pro 3rd and 4th generation have expressed strong interest in being able to experience Stage Manager on their iPads. In response, our teams have worked hard to find a way to deliver a single-screen version for these systems, with support for up to four live apps on the iPad screen at once.

External display support for Stage Manager on M1 iPads will be available in a software update later this year.

During the iPadOS 16 beta testing period, ‌Stage Manager‌ has been limited to the M1 ‌iPad Pro‌ models that were released in 2021, and the ‌M1‌ iPad Air. Every other iPad was unable to use the feature, including 2018 and 2020 ‌iPad Pro‌ models that use the A12X and A12Z chips. Apple maintained that it was not able to offer acceptable performance on non-M1 iPads because the feature requires "large internal memory, incredibly fast storage, and flexible external display I/O" provided by the ‌M1‌ ‌iPad‌ models.

Apple was reportedly unsatisfied with the ‌Stage Manager‌ experience on older ‌iPad Pro‌ models. "Certainly, we would love to bring any new experience to every device we can, but we also don't want to hold back the definition of a new experience and not create the best foundation for the future in that experience. And we really could only do that by building on the ‌M1‌," said Apple's Craig Federighi.

Apple has received ongoing criticism for limiting such a major feature to its newest hardware, leading the company to figure out a way to expand the functionality to additional iPads. The removal of the external display feature in ‌Stage Manager‌ may be what is allowing Apple to offer a suitable experience on non-M1 hardware, but when external display support is reintroduced, it will be limited to the ‌M1‌ ‌iPad‌ models and will not be available on the 2018 and 2020 ‌iPad‌ Pros.

‌Stage Manager‌ is now available on all ‌M1‌ iPads along with the 11 and 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ models from 2018 and 2020, so long as the latest iPadOS 16.1 beta is installed. Note that Apple is calling this beta iPadOS 16 beta 10.

Apple today seeded the third beta of iOS 16.1 to developers for testing purposes, with the beta coming one week after the release of the second iOS 16.1 beta. The iOS 16.1 beta is also joined by the fourth beta of iPadOS 16.1, which is on a slightly different schedule as Apple started testing it prior to the launch of iOS 16.

Registered developers can download the iOS 16‌ and iPadOS 16 profiles from the Apple Developer Center, and once installed, the betas will be available over the air.

iOS 16.1 introduces support for Live Activities, the interactive notification feature that lets you keep an eye on things happening in real time right from the Lock Screen and, on the iPhone 14 Pro, the Dynamic Island.

Live Activities cannot be used at the current time as developers still need to update their apps to add support, but it will be available when iOS 16.1 launches. Developers have access to an ActivityKit API to begin getting their apps ready.

The update also introduces a new Clean Energy Charging feature in the United States that is designed to selectively charge when lower carbon emission electricity is available, plus it lays the groundwork for Matter, a new smart home standard that Apple plans to begin supporting this fall.

Matter will allow for interoperability between smart devices from different companies, and Apple, Google, Samsung, Amazon, and others are working on support.

The second beta of iOS 16.1 tweaked the design of the battery status bar icon, adding a visual indication of charge level. It also changed the battery font, updated the Lock Screen charging indicator, and fixed a copy and paste bug.

Other new features in the update include a deletable Wallet app, changes to the Lock Screen customizing interface, and more, with details available in our iOS 16.1 feature guide.

Apple today seeded the ninth beta of macOS 13 Ventura, the next-generation version of the Mac operating system that's set to launch this fall. The ninth beta comes one week after Apple provided the eighth beta to developers.

Registered developers can download the beta through the Apple Developer Center and once the appropriate profile is installed, betas will be available through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences.

macOS Ventura introduces Stage Manager, a new feature that lets Mac users focus on a task while keeping other apps at the ready for easy swapping between tasks. The update adds Continuity Camera, which is designed to let you use the iPhone as a webcam for your Mac. It supports Center Stage, Desk View (for showing off your desk), and Studio Light.

Handoff is now available for FaceTime so you can transfer calls between ‌iPhone‌, iPad, and Mac at will, and Messages supports features for marking an iMessage as unread, unsending an iMessage, and marking as unread. SharePlay also now works in the Messages app.

The Mail app supports scheduling and undoing emails for up to 10 seconds after they're sent, and there are now Weather and Clock apps that are available on the Mac. System Preferences has been renamed System Settings, and it features an iOS-like design.

Safari supports Shared Tab Groups and Apple is working on Passkeys, a next-generation credential that replaces the password. There are updates to Spotlight, Photo Library has new features, and Metal 3 is included in macOS Ventura for better graphics in games.

For everything new in macOS Ventura, we have a dedicated roundup that goes through all of the features. macOS Ventura is set to see a public release in October.

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming watchOS 9.1 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new beta coming one week after Apple released the second watchOS 9.1 beta.

To install ‌watchOS 9.1, developers will need to download the configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once installed, ‌watchOS 9.1‌ can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General > Software update. To update to new software, an Apple Watch needs to have 50 percent battery life, it must be placed on the charger, and it needs to be in range of the ‌‌iPhone‌‌.

We don't yet know what's included in the watchOS 9.1 update as no new features have been found in the betas, but watchOS 9 brought a number of changes including a redesigned Compass app, a new medication tracking feature, updated watch faces, improvements to Workouts, new features for the ECG app, and more.

Lumafield today shared CT scan images of the second-generation AirPods Pro charging case, providing a look at internal changes to the case.

While the basic layout of the case appears to be similar to the original, Lumafield discovered that the newly added "lanyard loop" is internally connected to the Lightning connector, which interfaces with the logic board, leading the company to speculate that the metal insert might double as an antenna for the U1 chip or serve some other additional purpose.

There's a new metal eyelet on the side of the case. Apple says it's for a lanyard, but it seems to serve an additional purpose: it's 4 mm deep and 18 mm long, with a hidden tail that's connected to a metal pad around the Lightning port. Perhaps it's an antenna to support improved "Find My" tracking.

The U1 chip enables Find My support, allowing users to track the location of the charging case in the Find My app on their iPhone or on iCloud.com. The case features a new built-in speaker that can emit a chime to help with finding it.

Other improvements to the charging case include water resistance, support for the Apple Watch's magnetic charging puck, and longer battery life.

The new AirPods Pro launched last Friday and are priced at $249 in the United States.

An Apple Watch Ultra user has modified their new device's casing to add a brushed finish and remove the orange color of the Action Button in an effort to make it more visually appealing.

The Apple Watch Ultra offers the first complete redesign of the Apple Watch since the product line's announcement in 2014, and while the design has been met with praise from many users, some have criticized the size of the device and its bold new look. In a thread on the MacRumors forums, user "perezr10" gave their take on the Apple Watch Ultra's design:

First, I think there is nothing wrong with the way the Ultra looks for its intended market. Rugged sport watches should look like this. And they pretty much all do. The things I dislike about the Ultra have practical reasons for being. I used to wear a humongous Garmin sport watch for running.

BUT… I was never wanting to wear my Garmin to work or out on a date. And I don't think I'll ever want to wear this Ultra whenever I'm dressing up either.

There are five things I hate about the design when I consider wearing it as a normal everyday watch. The "tallness," the hunchback which is the crown guard, the holes everywhere, the orange button, and the finish which looked like Starlight aluminum. There is nothing that can be done about the first three but the last two are solvable.

Using a Dremel power tool, they set about making two key visual changes to the Apple Watch Ultra, starting with removing the high-contrast "international orange" color layer on the Action Button.

The user then proceeded to give the Apple Watch Ultra's entire titanium casing a brushed finish using a coarse abrasive finishing buff, moving away from the uniform sandblasted effect of the original device.

The resultant brushed titanium finish is very similar to the casings of some of the Apple Watch Edition models, which were available in a brushed titanium with the Series 5, Series 6, and Series 7. Apple discontinued the Apple Watch Edition line upon the launch of the Apple Watch Ultra.

"It may not be to everyone's liking, but I gotta say, I'm really liking my Ultra more after this. I still won't ever wear it with a suit, but I'm more likely now to use it when going out and about in town in jeans," perezr10 added.