MacRumors

As more post-WWDC interviews with Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi surface, we continue to learn more about Apple's reasoning behind iPadOS's new Stage Manager feature being limited to iPads with the M1 chip.

The latest interview was published by Forbes contributor David Phelan, who asked Federighi if Apple attempted to make Stage Manager work with iPad models without the M1 chip. In response, Federighi said Apple did some early testing of the feature on other iPads, but Apple was not satisfied with the experienced delivered on those devices.

"We began some of our prototyping involving those systems and it became apparent early on that we couldn't deliver the experience that that we were designing toward with them," he said. "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."

In an interview with TechCrunch's Matthew Panzarino shared earlier this week, Federighi said the M1 chip's performance ensures that all apps being used in Stage Manager are "instantaneously responsive," as customers expect from a touch-based interface.

In a statement last week, shared by Rene Ritchie, Apple asserted that Stage Manager "requires large internal memory, incredibly fast storage, and flexible external display I/O, all of which are delivered by iPads with the M1 chip."

The M1 iPad Pro is available with up to 16GB of RAM and a Thunderbolt port, while the previous-generation iPad Pro features 6GB of RAM and a USB-C port. The M1 iPad Pro also features up to 2x faster storage and up to 40% faster GPU performance compared to the previous model. The fifth-generation iPad Air is also equipped with the M1 chip, but the iPad mini, entry-level iPad, and older iPad Pro models are not.

Introduced as part of iPadOS 16, Stage Manager allows users to resize iPad apps into overlapping windows for an improved multitasking experience. The feature fully supports an external display with up to 6K resolution, allowing users to work with up to four apps on the iPad and up to four apps on the external display simultaneously. A version of Stage Manager is also available on macOS Ventura for keeping windows front and center.

As of this week, Apple will begin shipping repaired iPhone 12 models in a new brown box that is 100% plastic free and created with bleach-free paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, according to a company memo obtained by MacRumors. Until now, all repaired iPhones shipped by Apple were packaged in a white box.

In the memo, Apple said it is trialing the new packaging for repaired iPhones as part of the company's commitment to eliminate plastics in all packaging by 2025. In April, Apple announced that it had reduced plastic in its packaging by 75% since 2015, and said that plastics accounted for just 4% of the company's packaging in 2021.

The eco-friendly packaging will be used for repaired iPhone 12 models shipped from Apple Repair Center depots to Apple Stores, Apple Authorized Service Providers, and/or directly to customers in the United States and other countries.

Apple did not indicate whether it would expand the more eco-friendly packaging to all repaired iPhones if the trial is deemed successful.

Apple previously announced that its global operations have been carbon free since 2020, and the company said it has used 100% renewable energy to power its offices, stores, and data centers since 2018. As of March 2022, Apple said 213 of its manufacturing partners have also committed to 100% renewable electricity for Apple-related production.

International Day of Yoga is set to take place on Tuesday, June 21, and Apple is celebrating with a new Activity Challenge that will let Apple Watch users earn a new yoga badge and a set of animated yoga stickers.

Earn this award inspired by the International Day of Yoga. On June 21, do a yoga workout of 20 minutes or more. Record your time with any app that adds workouts to Health.

To earn the award, Apple Watch users will need to complete a yoga workout that lasts for 20 minutes or more on June 21. The award for completing the challenge looks similar to the award provided for past Yoga Day challenges, and there are several sticker options for various yoga poses.

Apple holds Activity Challenges for various holidays and events throughout the year, and began offering awards for International Day of Yoga back in 2019.

Any yoga workout will fulfill the requirement, as long as you select the yoga workout type from the Workout app on the Apple Watch or use an app that adds yoga workouts to the Health app. Apple's Fitness+ service, available for $9.99 per month, offers built-in yoga workouts that you can do.

Apple is working on a refresh of the low-cost entry-level iPad, which will expand the feature set of the device. According to 9to5Mac, Apple's 10th-generation ‌iPad‌ will include several updates that will bring it in line with the rest of the ‌iPad‌ lineup.

The 2022 ‌iPad‌ is said to include a USB-C port instead of a Lightning port, which would expand USB-C across the ‌iPad‌ lineup. The iPad Air, iPad Pro, and iPad mini are all equipped with USB-C at this point, leaving the ‌iPad‌ as the sole tablet that is using Lightning.

The updated device is expected to include a larger 10.5-inch display, which would be an upgrade from the current 10.2-inch display. Display analyst Ross Young, who often provides accurate info on Apple's display plans, has confirmed that the ‌iPad‌ will have a 10.5-inch display.

Apple is planning to update the ‌iPad‌ with the A14 Bionic chip. The A14 was first used in the iPhone 12 lineup and the fourth-generation ‌iPad Air‌, and it will bring faster performance compared to the A13 in the existing model.

Along with the display and chip updates, Apple will add 5G connectivity to the ‌iPad‌, allowing it to connect to 5G networks. There's no word on design updates at this time, so it is unclear if Apple will add a Touch ID power button or stick with the Home button.

Apple is expected to update the low-cost ‌iPad‌ at some point in 2022, likely in the fall.

The 40mm GPS Apple Watch SE has dropped to $229.00 on Amazon today, down from $279.00. You can get this deal in Gold Aluminum with Starlight Sport Band, Silver Aluminum with Abyss Blue Sport Band, and Space Gray Aluminum with Midnight Sport Band.

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 is the first time in a few weeks that we've seen the 40mm GPS Apple Watch SE return to this all-time low price. All three models are in stock and ready to ship from Amazon today.

The 44mm GPS model is also seeing an all-time low price, but stock has dwindled and caused a shipping estimate of mid-July. It's available for $229.00 as well, down from $309.00, only in Silver Aluminum with Abyss Blue Sport Band.

Keep up with all of this week's best discounts on Apple products and related accessories in our dedicated Apple Deals roundup.

Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming macOS Monterey 12.5 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new update coming two weeks after the release of the second macOS Monterey 12.5 beta.

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

There's no word yet on what new features or changes might be included in macOS Monterey 12.5, and nothing new was found in the first two betas. It's likely this update focuses on bug fixes and other minor improvements to the operating system.

macOS Monterey 12.5 could be one of the final updates to the macOS Monterey website as Apple is now shifting its focus to macOS Ventura, the next-generation Mac operating system coming this fall.

Apple today seeded the third betas of upcoming iOS 15.6 and iPadOS 15.6 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the new software coming two weeks after the release of the second beta.

Developers can download iOS 15.6 and iPadOS 15.6 through the Apple Developer Center or over the air after the proper profile has been installed on an iPhone or iPad.

We don't yet know what might be introduced in iOS 15.6 and iPadOS 15.6, as Apple has now implemented all of the features that were announced as coming in the iOS and iPadOS 15 updates, and work on iOS 15 is likely winding down with iOS 16 approaching.

There were no new features discovered in the first two betas of iOS 15.6 and iPadOS 15.6, suggesting these are updates focusing on bug fixes and other under-the-hood improvements.

iOS 15.6 and iPadOS 15.6 could be some of the last updates to iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 as Apple is now working on iOS 16, which is set to be released this fall.

Apple has also seeded new developer betas of tvOS 15.6 and watchOS 8.7.

Last week, well-connected display industry analyst Ross Young said he confirmed with his supply chain sources that Apple is planning a new 14.1-inch iPad Pro, but he has since revised his prediction and now believes the device may be a standard iPad after all.

In a tweet shared with his Super Followers today, Young said he confirmed that the 14-inch iPad will not have a mini-LED display after all. He also said the 14-inch iPad is unlikely to feature ProMotion, leading him to believe that the device may not be branded as an iPad Pro, given that all iPad Pro models released since 2017 feature ProMotion.

It sounds rather odd that Apple's largest iPad would not be a Pro model, but Young has accurately revealed many details about future Apple products, so we'll have to see how this rumor plays out. Apple will likely release the iPad in the first quarter of 2023, he said.

In another tweet shared with his Super Followers today, Young reiterated that the next 11-inch iPad Pro is not expected to feature mini-LED backlighting, despite the larger 12.9-inch iPad Pro adopting the technology in April 2021. Apple is expected to update both the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro with the M2 chip and more later this year.

Apple today announced a partnership with Major League Soccer that will see every single MLS match streamed through the Apple TV app for the next 10 years, with the deal to kick off in 2023.

Soccer fans will be able to stream every live match, with no local blackouts or restrictions of any kind. It will include access to all MLS and League Cup games, along with select MLS Next Pro and MLS Next matches.

"For the first time in the history of sports, fans will be able to access everything from a major professional sports league in one place," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Services. "It's a dream come true for MLS fans, soccer fans, and anyone who loves sports. No fragmentation, no frustration -- just the flexibility to sign up for one convenient service that gives you everything MLS, anywhere and anytime you want to watch. We can't wait to make it easy for even more people to fall in love with MLS and root for their favorite club."

Apple will provide access to MLS matches through a new MLS streaming service that will be exclusively available through the ‌Apple TV‌ app. Along with all matches, it will include a weekly live match whip-around show and game replays, highlights, analysis, and in-depth behind-the-scenes views of players and clubs.

A selection of MLS and League Cup matches will be available at no additional cost to ‌Apple TV‌+ subscribers, with a limited number of matches available for free. The new MLS streaming service will be included as part of MLS full-season ticket packages.

MLS live and on-demand content on the ‌Apple TV‌ app will be available on all Apple devices, along with smart TVs from companies like Samsung, LG, Sony, Panasonic, and Vizio. The ‌Apple TV‌ app can also be accessed on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast with Google TV, Comcast Xfinity, PlayStation, and Xbox. Customers without a device that supports the ‌Apple TV‌ app can watch on the web.

When the service launches, all MLS and Leagues Cup matches will include announcers calling the action in English and Spanish, and all matches involving Canadian teams will be available in French. Additional details on the service, such as subscription pricing, programming information, and when fans can sign up will be announced in the coming months.

Apple says that the deal is a "historic first" for a major professional sports league, and it will last through 2032. In an effort to ramp up its sports offerings, Apple has already established a deal with Major League Baseball, and rumors suggest that it is pursuing the National Football League's Sunday Ticket package.

Apple today announced that the new 13-inch MacBook Pro equipped with the M2 chip will be available to order worldwide starting Friday, June 17 at 5 a.m. Pacific Time. Apple said deliveries to customers and in-store availability will begin Friday, June 24.

Apple had previously said the new 13-inch MacBook Pro would be available in July, so orders are running ahead of schedule. Customers will be able to place an order via Apple.com, the Apple Store app, or through select Apple Authorized Resellers.

The new 13-inch MacBook Pro features the same design as the previous model, including the Touch Bar, with the only notable change being the addition of the M2 chip. Pricing starts at $1,299 in the United States, with silver and space gray color options.

Apple said the M2 chip has an 18% faster CPU, a 35% faster GPU, and a 40% faster Neural Engine compared to the M1 chip. With the M2 chip, the 13-inch MacBook Pro can be configured with up to 24GB of unified memory, whereas the M1 chip maxes out at 16GB of memory. The notebook can also be equipped with up to 2TB of SSD storage.

Apple did not provide an order date for the new MacBook Air with the M2 chip, which remains listed as "available next month" on Apple's website.

While the new 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models are both equipped with the M2 chip, one notable difference between the notebooks is that the MacBook Pro features an active cooling system to ensure sustained performance for those with "more demanding workflows," according to Apple, whereas the MacBook Air has a fanless design.

Adobe today updated its Lightroom apps for Mac and iOS, bringing a set of new image editing features as well as the ability to edit video for the first time.

With the release of version 5.4 for Mac and 7.4 for iOS, Lightroom now enables you to edit videos using the same controls that are used for photos. You can trim videos, adjust color and exposure, and apply presets optimized for video.

Meanwhile, Adobe has added a new class of AI-powered adaptive presets that allow you to perform one-click edits to the sky or subject in photos, while a new Preset Amount Slider gives you the ability to control the intensity of a preset.

Elsewhere, there's a new Red Eye Removal feature that automatically finds and removes red eyes with a single click, and a new Compare view lets you compare photos side-by-side.

There are also more than 50 new, handcrafted premium presets designed for videos, portraits, and live concert photos, and the community-based Discover section is now searchable, allowing you to more easily find topics of interest as well as photographers you'd like to follow.

Also new in this version is a new Invert Mask option that lets you invert masks at both the group and component levels, and you can also now choose to Duplicate & Invert masks.

In addition, the Select Sky and Select Subject AI masks can now be copied and pasted to other photos and they will be recomputed automatically, so there's no need to manually apply the new masks to each photo.

Lightroom for Mac is available through Adobe's Creative Cloud 1TB Lightroom plan for $9.99 per month, or through its 20GB and 1TB Photography plans, which bundle Photoshop and Lightroom together and cost $9.99 and $19.99 per month, respectively.

Lightroom for iPhone and iPad can be downloaded from the App Store for free and include several in-app premium storage subscription options starting from $1.99 per month for 40GB.

Mozilla today announced that it is rolling out Total Cookie Protection by default to all Firefox users worldwide, expanding on prior releases that included the Total Cookie Protection feature on an opt-in basis.

To use Total Cookie Protection prior to now, Firefox users could opt in to the Strict Tracking Protection feature, but it was not turned on for all users as a default setting. Mozilla has been testing Total Cookie Protection in Firefox for months with the opt-in functionality prior to rolling it out for everyone.

Total Cookie Protection is designed to prevent trackers from using cookies to track user browsing history across different websites.

According to Mozilla, the feature "builds a fence around cookies," and limits them to the site that you're browsing, preventing cross-site tracking. Firefox says that the Total Cookie Protection feature leaves "Chrome and Edge in the dust," and that it would like to see Google and Microsoft follow its lead to offer better protection for users. Apple's Safari browser has similar anti-tracking features that prevent cross-site tracking and hide a user's IP address.

Firefox can be downloaded from the Mozilla website for free.

Amazon today has a pair of discounts on Apple's 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro, marking the first time since April that we've seen notable markdowns on the notebooks. Only the 16-inch models are being discounted on Amazon as of writing.

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.

You can get the 10-Core M1 Pro, 512GB 16-inch MacBook Pro for $2,299.00, down from $2,499.00. Additionally, the 10-Core M1 Pro, 1TB 16-inch MacBook Pro is on sale for $2,499.00, down from $2,699.00. Both sales are available in Silver and Space Gray, and in stock now.

Apple introduced the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models in October 2021, equipped with mini-LED displays, more ports than the previous generation, up to 64GB memory, and more powerful Apple silicon chips, and the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. Both models have faced shortages throughout 2022, so we haven't been tracking as many deals on them, but we're now starting to see restocks happen across various retailers.

Our full Deals Roundup has more information on the latest Apple-related sales and bargains.

Apple's revenue from its music and gaming subscription services is expected to jump 36% to $8.2 billion annually by 2025, according to JP Morgan (via Reuters).

The U.S. investment bank's analyst Samik Chatterjee on Monday said Apple Music and Apple Arcade are likely to have a combined subscriber base of about 180 million by 2025, with 110 million users paying for the company's music services and 70 million for gaming.

Launched in 2015 and now the second biggest music streaming service after Spotify, ‌Apple Music‌ is expected to account for $7 billion revenue by 2025. ‌Apple Arcade‌, which launched in 2019, is estimated to pull in $1.2 billion.

Apple doesn't break down sales in its Services category, but the company reported $19.82 billion for the March quarter. Apple's Services segment includes the App Store, Apple TV+, Arcade and ‌Apple Music‌.

Germany's Federal Cartel Office, the Bundeskartellamt, has initiated proceedings against Apple to investigate whether its tracking rules and anti-tracking technology are anti-competitive and self-serving, according to a press release.

The proceeding announced today will review under competition law Apple's tracking rules and specifically its App Tracking Transparency Framework (ATT) in order to ascertain whether they are self-preferencing Apple or being an impediment to third-party apps. Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, said of the proceeding:

"We welcome business models which use data carefully and give users choice as to how their data are used. A corporation like Apple which is in a position to unilaterally set rules for its ecosystem, in particular for its app store, should make pro-competitive rules. We have reason to doubt that this is the case when we see that Apple's rules apply to third parties, but not to Apple itself. This would allow Apple to preference its own offers or impede other companies. Our proceeding is largely based on the new competencies we received as part of the stricter abuse control rules regarding large digital companies which were introduced last year (Section 19a German Competition Act - GWB). On this basis, we are conducting or have already concluded proceedings against Google/Alphabet, Meta/Facebook and Amazon.

Introduced in April 2021 with the release of iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5, Apple's App Tracking Transparency Framework requires that all apps on ‌iPhone‌ and ‌iPad‌ ask for the user's consent before tracking their activity across other apps. Apps that wish to track a user based on their device's unique advertising identifier can only do so if the user allows it when prompted.

Apple said the feature was designed to protect users and not to advantage the company. However, the Bundeskartellamt's preliminary findings indicate that while users can also restrict Apple from using their data for personalized advertising, Apple "is not subject to the new and additional rules of the App Tracking Transparency Framework."

The German competition regulator's proceeding is subsequent to an earlier proceeding initiated against Apple in June 2021 that was set up to look into claims of anti-competitive behavior related to the App Store, its products, and other services.

"In this context," said the regulator, "the possibilities for Apple itself to combine data across services and users' options regarding the processing of their data by Apple can be relevant, just like the question whether these rules may lead to a reduction of users' choice of apps financed through advertising."

Many advertisers have been impacted by ATT, but Facebook has been the most vocal and critical of the new change. Ever since Apple began to beta test the framework, Facebook accused Apple of impacting small businesses who rely on advertising as a means of keeping their doors open. Facebook also claimed that the framework was anti-competitive because it gives Apple an upper hand for running its own mobile advertising business on iOS devices.

An October 2021 report by the Financial Times claimed that ATT had resulted in a "windfall" for Apple's advertising business since its introduction. The report asserted that Apple's share of the mobile app advertising market tripled in the six months after the feature was introduced.

Apple has disputed suggestions that its ATT framework has unfairly benefitted the company to the detriment of third-parties. Earlier this year it commissioned a study into the impact of ATT that was conducted by Columbia Business School's Marketing Division. The study concluded that Apple was unlikely to have seen a significant financial benefit since the privacy feature launched, and that claims to the contrary were speculative and lacked supporting evidence.

Google Maps is gaining a new feature on iOS and Android that estimates the amount of money you'll have to pay in tolls for a chosen route.

Before you set off, you'll now see the estimated toll price to your destination in the app. Google says the road information is sourced from local tolling authorities, and includes factors like having a toll pass or not, what day of the week it is, and how much the toll is expected to cost at the specific time you'll be crossing it.

Options are available within the app's settings to display toll prices with or without a toll pass – Google notes that the price can change in many places depending on the payment method used. There is also an option to avoid routes crossing toll roads entirely.

Google says the toll prices feature is rolling out now and is available for nearly 2,000 toll roads in the U.S., India, Japan, and Indonesia, with coverage for more countries coming soon.

Following the WWDC keynote last week, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi spoke with TechCrunch's Matthew Panzarino about the new Stage Manager feature for iPad and Mac. Notably, he elaborated on Stage Manager being limited to M1 iPads.

On the iPad, Stage Manager allows users to resize apps into overlapping windows for an improved multitasking experience. Stage Manager also fully supports an external display with up to 6K resolution, allowing users to work with up to four apps on the iPad and up to four apps on the external display simultaneously.

In a statement shared with Rene Ritchie last week, Apple asserted that Stage Manager "requires large internal memory, incredibly fast storage, and flexible external display I/O, all of which are delivered by iPads with the M1 chip." Federighi elaborated on that rationale in his chat with Panzarino, telling him that the power of the M1 chip ensures that all apps being used in Stage Manager are "instantaneously responsive."

"It's only the M1 iPads that combined the high DRAM capacity with very high capacity, high performance NAND that allows our virtual memory swap to be super fast," said Federighi. "Now that we're letting you have up to four apps on a panel plus another four – up to eight apps to be instantaneously responsive and have plenty of memory, we just don't have that ability on the other systems," such as the previous-generation iPad Pro.

Released in April 2021, the iPad Pro with an M1 chip is available with up to 16GB of RAM, compared to 6GB in the previous iPad Pro. Apple also advertises the M1 iPad Pro as having 2x faster storage and up to 40% faster GPU performance compared to the previous model. Apple also released an iPad Air with the same M1 chip in March 2022.

"We really designed Stage Manager to take full advantage [of the M1 chip]," said Federighi. "If you look at the way the apps tilt and shadow and how they animate in and out. To do that at super high frame rates, across very large displays and multiple displays, requires the peak of graphics performance that no one else can deliver."

"When you put all this together, we can't deliver the full Stage Manager experience on any lesser system," added Federighi. "I mean, we would love to make it available everywhere we can. But this is what it requires. This is the experience we're going to carry into the future. We didn't want to constrain our design to something lesser, we're setting the benchmark for the future."

As for Stage Manager on the Mac, Federighi said there are already "so many different ways" to multitask on macOS, such as using Mission Control or the Command-Tab keyboard shortcut to switch between apps, and Stage Manager is simply another tool in the toolbox.

"On the Mac, there are so many different ways to work. Some people use spaces, some people are in and out of Mission Control. Some people are command tab people, some people like to create a mess, some people clean up their messes and some people use minimization. I mean, there's no wrong answer here, there are a lot of valid ways to work on the Mac."

"If 20% of the users on the Mac end up saying that this is another great tool in the quiver for them… that's fantastic," he said.

Prior to the launch of new iPhone models, case makers often create dummy models based on leaked schematics and specifications. We've known about the design of the iPhone 14 lineup for some time now, and this week, we got a set of dummy units to see the design updates for ourselves.

Because there's a lot of money in having a case ready for a new iPhone ahead of launch, dummy models are often quite accurate, so these fake iPhone 14 devices give us a clear picture of what we can expect to see.

Design wise, the iPhone 14 models are going to look a lot like the iPhone 13 models, but with a notable exception - there's not going to be an iPhone 14 mini. Instead, Apple is making two 6.1-inch iPhones (iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro), along with two 6.7-inch iPhones (iPhone 14 Max and iPhone 14 Pro Max).

For the Pro models, the notch is going to be replaced with hole and pill-shaped cutouts for the camera and the Face ID equipment. The hole and pill design is not much different from a notch, but it will free up some space and make the front cameras less obtrusive. Standard iPhone 14 models will continue to have a notch.

We know there are some minor changes to the sizes of the devices, but when comparing a dummy unit to the iPhone 13 lineup in person, it's difficult to tell. There are tiny changes to the screen sizes of the iPhone 14 Pro models, but in day to day use, you're not going to notice.

Camera bumps are going to be a bit thicker and wider on the Pro models to accommodate the 48-megapixel camera that Apple is adding. Standard iPhone 14 models will not see many design changes.

Weight, material, and color are factors we can't deduce from dummy models, but rumors suggest the iPhone 14 models will have the same build as the prior-generation versions, though we could see a new featured purple color for both the standard and the Pro models.

Apple's iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models will have more differences than ever before, with the Pro models expected to adopt an A16 chip while Apple continues to use an A15 chip in the standard models. The iPhone 14 Pro models will also have more advanced camera systems, ProMotion displays that will likely support an always-on display feature, and more.

What do you think about Apple's plans for the iPhone 14 lineup? Let us know in the comments below.