MacRumors

It is Friday, November 4 in New Zealand and Australia, which means it is the official launch day of the new third-generation Apple TV 4K. Customers in Australia and New Zealand are always the first to get their hands on new devices due to time zone differences.

Customers who ordered an ‌Apple TV‌ 4K back on October 18 are starting to receive their deliveries. There are no Apple Stores in New Zealand, so customers in Australia will be the first to be able to buy one of the new ‌Apple TV‌ 4K models at an Apple retail location.

We are expecting most stores worldwide to have the ‌Apple TV‌ 4K readily available for walk-in purchase, as the ‌Apple TV‌ is not typically a device that sees high demand.

The ‌Apple TV‌ 4K is equipped with a much faster A15 Bionic chip that offers 50 percent faster CPU performance and 30 percent faster GPU performance compared to the A12 chip in the prior-generation model. It also includes 4GB RAM, up from 3GB, and there are 64 and 128GB variants available.

Along with HDR10 and Dolby Vision, the new ‌Apple TV‌ 4K supports HDR10+ on televisions that offer the feature, plus it has a thinner and lighter design than the prior version. It also comes with a new Siri Remote equipped with a USB-C port.

Pricing on the ‌Apple TV‌ 4K starts at $129 for the 64GB version, and goes up to $149 for the model with 128GB of storage, a built-in Ethernet port, and Thread support for connected home devices. The new ‌Apple TV‌ 4K is more affordable than prior-generation models that started at $179.

Following New Zealand and Australia, sales of the ‌‌Apple TV‌ 4K will begin in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and finally, North America. The ‌Apple TV‌ 4K is expected to be Apple's final product launch of 2022, and there are no more devices on the horizon for the year. We are expecting to see new Macs sometime early in 2023.

Apple in October paused hiring for most jobs outside of research and development, according to a report from Bloomberg. Apple is aiming to cut costs, and the new hiring freeze furthers a July plan that Apple implemented to slow hiring and spending.

The pause in hiring does not apply to teams working on future devices and long-term initiatives, but sources that spoke to Bloomberg said it will impact "corporate functions and standard hardware and software engineering roles."

Apple's website still lists open jobs, but the hiring process is on hold behind the scenes. News of the expanded hiring freeze was initially reported earlier this week by Insider, and the site said that Apple has "paused almost all hiring." Staff across multiple divisions have been told that Apple will not be onboarding new hires for several months, perhaps through the end of September 2023.

Insider's sources said that Apple has not provided budgets for new hires, and that budgets within the company are "under review" as Apple aims to cut costs.

Apple in a statement told Insider that it is continuing to hire, but because of the "current economic environment" it is "taking a very deliberate approach in some parts of the business."

"We are very confident in Apple's future and are investing for the long term. We want to be thoughtful and make smart decisions that enable us to continue fueling innovation for the long term," said Apple.

During the earnings call for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2022, Apple said that it would see slowing growth during the holiday quarter. Mac sales in particular are expected to fall dramatically compared to last year as Apple does not plan to debut any Macs in late 2022. There are no more products rumored to be launching this year, in fact.

The PayPal and Venmo iOS apps will soon offer Apple's Tap to Pay on iPhone functionality, allowing merchants that use PayPal or Venmo to accept contactless debit or credit cards and mobile wallet payments, including Apple Pay.

PayPal shared the news in its latest earnings report, which was released today.

Leveraging Apple's Tap to Pay on iPhone technology, U.S. merchant customers will soon be able to accept contactless debit or credit cards and mobile wallets, including Apple Pay, using an iPhone and the PayPal or Venmo iOS app.

Introduced in February, Tap to Pay is designed to allow compatible iPhones to accept payments via ‌Apple Pay‌, contactless credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets with no additional hardware required.

As of now, Tap to Pay is available in Apple retail locations, and Square has also launched support for the feature. Small merchants and independent retailers who use Square for payment purposes can accept contactless payments directly in the Square Point of Sale app with no Square add-on hardware device.

Tap to Pay is a feature that is supported on the iPhone XS or newer, and it is simple to use. Sellers just need to open up the app, register the sale, and present their iPhone to the buyer, who can then use an appropriate contactless payment method. Stripe, Adyen, and others are also using Tap to Pay.

In addition to introducing support for Tap to Pay, PayPal says that it also plans to add ‌Apple Pay‌ as a payment option in checkout flows on merchant platforms, plus starting next year, customers in the U.S. will be able to add PayPal and Venmo network-branded credit and debit cards to Apple Wallet, using them in locations where ‌Apple Pay‌ is accepted.

Samsung this week released a new anti-Apple "On the Fence" ad that once again targets Apple's lack of foldable devices. In the spot, a man sits on a fence overlooking a retail store designed to look like an Apple Store.

"Hey, what are you doing up there?" asks an Apple-like employee. "You can't sit on the fence." "But on the Samsung side, they have folding phones and epic cameras," replies the man. His speech attracts another "Apple" customer interested in foldable devices, while the fake Apple employee tries to talk him out of leaving. "We're waiting for all that to come over here," explains the employee.

"Why? It's already over there," replies the potential Samsung customer. "Because that's what we do. We wait," says the fake Apple employee.

Samsung has a long history of poking fun at Apple in its ad spots and insulting Apple devices in order to promote its own products. Samsung's Anti-Apple ads have picked up in recent months, with Samsung focusing heavily on the fact that Apple has not yet come out with a foldable device.

Samsung in September, for example, launched a first-to-foldables campaign mocking the iPhone's lack of innovation while promoting Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip features. "What's the hold on the Fold, Apple?" Samsung asked. Samsung also encouraged people to "join the Flip side," choosing a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip device over the iPhone 14 models.

There's no word as of yet on when Apple might come out with some kind of foldable device, and Samsung has indeed been selling foldable smartphones since 2019. Early Fold devices had a long list of issues with screen quality and durability, which perhaps explains why Apple has waited to come out with a foldable device.

Newer foldables from Samsung are more durable and have fewer issues, but continue to have high price points ranging from $900 for the latest Z Flip to $1,600 for the latest Z Fold.

With the iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 updates, Apple is enhancing the Weather app through the integration of an Apple News section. Located below the 10-day forecast on iPhone, the ‌Apple News‌ module surfaces relevant regional news stories.

In Raleigh, for example, the app displays a story about hurricanes in the Atlantic, and in San Diego, there is a story about fire season. Content varies based on location, and tapping on a story shown in the Weather app opens up the ‌Apple News‌ app.

Not all cities show news stories at all times and it appears that when there's a weather alert at the top of the app, such as for rain or severe weather alerts, the news module is also removed. It is not clear if weather-related alerts are limited to select cities, or show up only when relevant information is available. As of now, the feature appears to be live only in the United States.

Apple appears to have introduced the new Weather app module server-side, but it is only showing up on devices that are running iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2, suggesting it is meant to be a new feature added with the beta updates.

Apple is making some changes to the TV app, and users are not happy with the updates. The updated design appears to be visible primarily for iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, tvOS 16.2, and macOS Ventura 13.1 beta users, but it is likely a server-side change that Apple is introducing that will eventually roll out to all TV app users.

Apple's new design adds a Featured section to the top of the "Watch Now" section in the TV app, with the featured content placed above the "Up Next" watchlist. The change makes it more difficult for users to get to the content they are interested in, with random TV shows taking up the majority of the screen.

In the current release versions of iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and macOS, "Up Next" is at the top of the "Watch Now" tab for quick access to shows and movies that are in progress or that have been placed on a watch list.

There are a number of complaints about the new design on Reddit from users who are unhappy with the way that Featured TV shows and movies supplant Up Next content. This section seems to display quite a few Apple TV+ shows and movies, but it does also highlight shows and movies from other streaming providers. Regardless of content shown, TV users do not seem to want suggested content replacing their chosen content at the forefront of the app. From Reddit user robber3572:

I don't mind the discovery aspect, which I agree is what the tv app is all about. It's highlighting this featured content above (literally and figuratively) the content that I watch on a regular basis that's annoying and intrusive. This featured content is now prominent in the tv app and it highlights shows/movies I would never have an interest in watching.

The TV+ tab in the TV app already had this design that puts content above watch lists, and it is expanding to the Watch Now tab as well. When the Up Next section is selected on the ‌Apple TV‌, the Featured section is still visible, and the previews of Up Next shows are gone. Featured also dominates the interface on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

At the current time, there is no way to disable the featured section to put Up Next content back at the top of the app, and it is not clear if Apple is still tweaking the design or if this is a finalized look. What's worse, the featured content seems to autoplay, ignoring settings for Up Next that prevented shows from previewing content. There does not appear to be a way to turn off autoplay for featured shows and movies.

Google in October launched the Pixel 7 Pro, its newest high-end flagship smartphone. The Pixel 7 Pro came out just weeks after Apple's new iPhone 14 Pro Max, so we thought we'd compare the cameras of the two smartphones, pitting the high-end iPhone against the high-end Pixel 7.

On paper, the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the Pixel 7 Pro have similar camera systems. The iPhone is equipped with a 12-megapixel Ultra Wide lens, a 12-megapixel Telephoto lens, and a 48-megapixel Wide lens, which Apple calls the "main" camera. The Pixel 7 Pro has a 12-megapixel ultra wide lens, a 48-megapixel telephoto lens, and a 50-megapixel wide-angle lens. The Pixel 7 Pro wins out in terms of raw megapixels, especially for the telephoto lens.

What we've learned from camera comparisons over the years is that high-end smartphones all take similar pictures, and they all turn out great. For the most part, you are going to get stunning images with both the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the Pixel 7 Pro, though there are some differences to be aware of.

With standard photos, the shadows are darker in the iPhone images, with the Pixel 7 Pro lightening things up a bit. Images from the Pixel 7 Pro are less saturated, and we are seeing more vibrant colors from the iPhone. In some cases, the images coming direct from the Pixel 7 Pro camera look sharper, though that could be a software effect and a difference in the editing that Google does behind the scenes.

Both wide angle and ultra wide images come out similarly, but the Pixel 7 Pro's telephoto capabilities are much better than the telephoto features offered by the iPhone. Google added 5x optical zoom, compared to 3x optical zoom for the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and it makes a difference. In fact, there's a 30x Super Res digital zoom option that's impressively sharp.

In Portrait Mode, the Pixel 7 Pro offers more depth of field for more background blur, which some people will prefer. It can sometimes have trouble separating the subject from the background, and it works better with people than it does with objects.

As for Night Mode, both smartphones have pros and cons. The Pixel 7 Pro is better at nighttime portrait shots of people because the iPhone tends to be too soft around the face, but the iPhone is better at shots that include the sky. The Pixel 7 Pro is sharper across more images and it wins out when it comes to astrophotography, but there are issues with artifacting in some images.

With video, the iPhone 14 Pro Max does a better job, which is a theme that we've seen for several years now. The iPhone's video is crisper, though Google has made some strides with stabilization. Cinematic Mode on the iPhone has improved in 2022 with support for 24 and 30fps 4K video, while the Pixel's Cinematic Blur is limited to 30fps.

All in all, the Pixel 7 Pro has an edge when it comes to photos, and the iPhone 14 Pro Max wins in the video category, but both smartphones take excellent images and it's often hard to decide which one is better. What do you think of the Pixel 7 Pro? Let us know in the comments below.

Following the announcement of new Apple TV 4K models in October, we've been tracking steep markdowns on the 2021 models on Amazon. These sales have continued into November, and right now you can get the 32GB Apple TV 4K for $99.99, down from its original price of $179.00.

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.

This remains the best price we've ever tracked on this model of the 2021 Apple TV 4K, and it makes the streaming device about $29 cheaper than the brand new entry-level Apple TV 4K model, which starts with 64GB. Current shipping estimates on Amazon provide a November 5 to 10 delivery window.

We're keeping track of all of the season's best Apple-related deals in our Black Friday roundup, so be sure to check back throughout the month for an updated list of all the most notable discounts you'll find for Black Friday 2022.

Smart home accessory maker Nanoleaf today announced the upcoming launch of new products that are compatible with Matter, a smart home standard that Apple began supporting with the launch of iOS 16.1. Matter is designed to allow for interoperability between smart home devices from different manufacturers.

Nanoleaf is debuting Matter-equipped A19, GU10, and BR30 light bulbs, as well as a Lightstrip, with all of the products part of the company's Essentials line. The bulbs and the lightstrip offer more than 16 million color options as well as tunable whites with color temperatures ranging from 2700-6500K.

The new Essentials devices are able to play color-changing lighting scenes that can be customized with the Nanoleaf app. With Matter integration, the Essentials products are compatible with HomeKit and other smart home platforms like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.

Matter-compatible Essentials Smart Bulbs and Lightstrips are set to launch in early 2023 and will be priced from $20 to $100. Nanoleaf plans to introduce additional Matter-compatible products at CES in January.

Photo editing app Darkroom today announced the launch of new highlight and shadow recovery tools, which are available as an expansion of the existing recovery sliders.

Darkroom says that the Exposure, Whites, Highlights, Shadows, and Blacks sliders have been rebuilt from the ground up in a major technical investment that allows users to access edits that were previously out of reach.

A luminance curve adjusts the dark and bright areas of the image, while a histogram-equalization algorithm enhances clarity in the midtones to avoid a flat look. A frequency-domain algorithm detects busy areas in the image and enhances contrast, and all of the new algorithms are spatially aware to allow for tweaks to each part of an image.

The highlight and shadow recovery tools are available for all image types, but Darkroom says they work particularly well for RAW photos as there is more detail to recover.

With the launch of the new tools, Darkroom is discontinuing the Photos Editing Extension that allowed the Apple ‌Photos‌ app to be used to make Darkroom edits. The feature is being discontinued because of memory constraints and resolution limitations.

Darkroom is free to download, but premium Darkroom+ features are available for $5 per month or $30 per year. Darkroom can be downloaded from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Amazon today announced that it will be updating 17 of its Echo devices to support the new Matter smart home standard over Wi-Fi next month, according to The Verge. The phased rollout will initially only be supported on Android and allow those Echo devices to serve as controllers only for plugs, bulbs, and switches. Amazon's Matter support will expand early next year to include iOS devices and Thread networking, and support for additional categories of smart devices will come over time.

Amazon told The Verge that it is taking a phased approach due to the sheer number of devices involved and the complexity of getting everything transitioned over to the new standard.

"We're bringing Matter support to well over 100 million devices across 30 Echo and Eero devices," Chris DeCenzo, a senior principal engineer at Amazon and the company's CSA board director, explained in an interview with The Verge. "This is an effort unprecedented in scale and complexity. It's a big deal, and we need to make sure it goes smoothly."

In particular, he pointed to the lack of available products in the other Matter categories for Amazon to test. "There aren't many [Matter-compatible] locks, window shades, and thermostats out there yet, and we want to test everything in our beta program first."

The delayed rollout of support on iOS is also reportedly due to Apple's requirements, with Amazon saying that upgrading its Alexa app for iOS to be compatible with Matter requires using new APIs that Apple only just released and which Amazon will need to test to ensure everything is working properly.

The Verge says the following Echo devices will be updated with Matter support next month: Echo Dot (fifth-gen), Echo Dot (fifth-gen) with Clock, Echo (fourth-gen), Echo Dot (third-gen, 2018 release), Echo Studio, Echo Show 8 (second-gen, 2021 release), Echo Show 10 (third-gen), Echo Show 5 (second-gen, 2021 release), Echo Dot (third-gen) with Clock, Echo Dot (fourth-gen) with Clock, Echo Show 5, Echo (v3), Echo Dot (fourth-gen), Echo Input, Echo Flex, Echo Plus (v2), and Echo Show 8. Additional Echo and Eero devices will be receiving the upgrade in early 2023.

Woot and Amazon today have a pair of solid markdowns on Beats headphones and Apple Watches, respectively. You can get up to $110 off select Beats devices on Woot and $39 off the second generation Apple Watch SE and Apple Watch Series 8 on Amazon.

Beats

Woot today is hosting a notable sale on headphones from a variety of different brands, including all-time low prices on the Beats Fit Pro and Powerbeats Pro. For the Beats Fit Pro, you can these headphones in new condition for $144.95, down from $199.99.

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.

The Beats Fit Pro come in brand new condition with a one year Beats manufacturer limited warranty, and only Sage Gray is available at this record low price. Amazon Prime members can get free standard shipping, and delivery is estimated for November 11 to 15.

The Powerbeats Pro are on sale for $139.95, down from $249.99, which is another best-ever price. These are also in brand new condition, come with a one year Beats manufacturer limited warranty, and are only available in one color: Navy.

Powerbeats Pro are on sale for around $180 at most retailers right now, so Woot's sale is particularly steep for a new pair of the headphones. All of these deals will only be available today, so be sure to browse Woot's full headphone sale before it ends.

Apple Watch

In another sale, Amazon is offering all-time low prices on the second generation Apple Watch SE in select configurations. You can get the 44mm GPS Apple Watch SE (S/M band size) for $239.99 in two colors, down from $279.00.

Only the S/M band size is discounted to this record low price, and it's available in Silver Aluminum and Starlight Aluminum.

We're also tracking a deal on the Apple Watch Series 8, where you can get the 45mm cellular model for $489.99, down from $529.00. This one is only available in M/L band sizes, but it's another all-time low price at $39 off.

We're keeping track of all of the season's best Apple-related deals in our Black Friday roundup, so be sure to check back throughout the month for an updated list of all the most notable discounts you'll find for Black Friday 2022.

Smart home accessory maker Aqara today shared new details about impending updates and product releases that will add support for the Matter home standard.

Aqara users will first gain access to Matter on their accessories in December 2022 via an over-the-air update to the Aqara Hub M2, allowing existing Aqara Zigbee devices to become compatible with Matter. Other Aqara hubs, including the Hub M1S, Hub E1, Camera Hub G3, and Camera Hub G2H Pro, will receive similar updates in the following months.

The hub updates will expose over 40 existing Aqara Zigbee devices, such as the Door and Window Sensor, Temperature and Humidity Sensor, and Curtain Driver E1, to Matter and connect with other third-party Matter devices. See the full list of devices that will gain Matter support with the first wave of updates on Aqara's website. Aqara says it will expand support for Matter to more Zigbee devices in the future, with over 160 existing accessories in the pipeline.

In addition, Aqara plans to launch a new lineup of Thread-based multi-protocol devices with refreshed designs starting in early 2023, including native Matter support and direct connection with Matter controllers. The company also says it will open up the Aqara Home app to support third-party Matter devices.

Eve Systems today announced an upcoming firmware update for three of its devices, with the new firmware set to add Matter integration. The latest models of the Eve Energy, Eve Motion, and Eve Door and Window devices will receive Matter firmware updates on December 12.

Eve says that Matter certification has been completed for these three products, and they will receive firmware updates through the Eve app. With Matter support, each person in a household will be able to access Eve products from their preferred smartphone or voice assistant.

Eve says that all 14 of its Thread-enabled Eve devices will get free Matter firmware updates over time, and Matter-certified Eve products will be available for sale starting in the first quarter of 2023.

The Eve app has to date been available exclusively for iOS devices, but there is an Android version in the works that will launch in early 2023.

Matter is a new smart home standard that is meant to improve interoperability between smart home devices, allowing them to work across multiple smart home platforms.

Twitter aims to start charging users for blue check verification badges as soon as next week, as part of new owner Elon Musk's plan to further monetize the social media platform, according to a new report.

The badges will be part of an $8-per-month Twitter Blue subscription, an increase of $3 over the current $4.99 per month price, which will also include priority in replies, mentions, and search, the ability to post long video and audio, and half as many ads as non-paying users.

For users who already have the verification badge, such as celebrities, journalists, and other notable influencers, "chief twit" Musk intends to give them a "multi-month grace period" before they will either need to pay for the badge or lose it, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the plans. Twitter will reportedly allow government accounts to stay verified, as well as those in regions where Twitter cannot charge payment.

The company also plans to expand access to its edit function, which is currently limited to paying Twitter Blue subscribers. All Twitter account holders are expected to be given access to the long-requested edit feature, and that could also happen as early as next week, although the timing for Twitter's plans could still change, according to Bloomberg's sources.

The plan to charge for the blue verification badge has been met with controversy, with some prominent holders of the badge speaking out against the move and saying they won't pay for it.

Some critics have accused Musk of "charging for free speech," in the sense that users who don't pay up will have their posts diminished or silenced. Others however have supported the move, agreeing with Musk that it will help weed out bots and other spam accounts.

Musk is working rapidly to monetize Twitter, as the social network has historically not been particularly profitable. In addition to introducing changes to Twitter Blue, Musk has also said that he plans to bring back video service Vine. Rumors suggest that Musk has shifted more than 50 Tesla engineers over to Twitter to work on the new features.

Google is rolling out a new Gmail app feature in time for the holiday season that allows users to more easily track their packages directly from within their inbox.

In a bid to help users stay on top of order and shipping confirmation emails over the festive period, Gmail will show a simplified view of a user's package tracking and delivery information.

For orders with tracking numbers, Gmail will prominently display your current delivery status in your inbox list view and in a summary card at the top of individual emails. Package tracking will be available across most major U.S. shipping carriers and will provide important details at a glance, such as estimated arrival date and status — like "Label created," "Arriving tomorrow" or "Delivered today."

Users can opt in to receive the package tracking updates in their inbox using Gmail's settings. Gmail will then automatically look up order statuses using tracking numbers and surface them in the user's inbox. It will also proactively show delay labels and bring the emails to the top of the inbox. Google says the new package tracking features will roll out "in the coming weeks."

Google's system is vaguely reminiscent of the package tracker that Apple recently introduced in iOS 16, but distinct in that Apple's tracker only works for orders from supporting businesses that are purchased using Apple Pay. Also, Apple's tracker is built into the Wallet app, rather than its stock Mail app.

Popular Meta-owned messaging app WhatsApp received a handful of new feature additions today, along with the global rollout of its new Communities feature.

Communities is designed to allow people to bring together separate groups under a single umbrella, providing users with a way to receive updates that are sent to an entire community, and then organize smaller discussion groups on important topics.

An example use case could be school parents creating an overarching "School" community, which breaks out into smaller groups based on grade and other factors. WhatsApp first started testing Communities in April, and now they're gradually rolling out worldwide.

The encrypted chat platform has also gained in-chat polls, something that has been in beta testing since March. Users are now able to ask a poll question and group members can choose from pre-defined answers. Like chats, polls are end-to-end encrypted, meaning only people in the group can see the poll and the results.

In addition, video calls can now have up to 32 participants, and the maximum group size has been doubled from 512 to 1024 users.

WhatsApp has worked to improve the group chat experience over the last few years in an effort to keep up with competing platforms, introducing group descriptions, a catch-up feature, a one-way messaging option, and protection for users who are being added repeatedly to groups they've left.