MacRumors

A few weeks ago, Adobe dropped support for Flash Player and continued to strongly recommend that all users immediately uninstall the browser plugin for security reasons. And starting today, Adobe has gone one step further and blocked Flash content entirely.

When a user attempts to load a Flash game or content in a browser such as Chrome, the content now fails to load and instead displays a small banner that leads to the Flash end-of-life page on Adobe's website. While this day has long been coming, with many browsers disabling Flash by default years ago, it is officially the end of a 25-year era for Flash, first introduced by Macromedia in 1996 and acquired by Adobe in 2005.

"Since Adobe will no longer be supporting Flash Player after December 31, 2020 and Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning January 12, 2021, Adobe strongly recommends all users immediately uninstall Flash Player to help protect their systems," the page reads. Adobe has instructions for uninstalling Flash on Mac, but note that Apple removed support for Flash outright in Safari 14 last year.

Adobe first announced its plans to discontinue Flash in 2017. "Open standards such as HTML5, WebGL, and WebAssembly have continually matured over the years and serve as viable alternatives for Flash content," the company explained.

Adobe does not intend to issue Flash Player updates or security patches any longer, so it is recommended that users uninstall the plugin.

Over the years, Flash had an infamous reputation due to numerous security vulnerabilities that exposed Mac and PC users to malware and other risks, forcing vendors like Microsoft and Apple to work tirelessly to keep up with security fixes.

Apple's co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs offered his "Thoughts on Flash" in a 2010 open letter, criticizing Adobe's software for its poor reliability, security, and performance. Jobs also said that Apple "cannot be at the mercy of a third party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our developers."

Flash's discontinuation should not heavily impact most users since many popular browsers have already moved away from the plugin. Additionally, iPhone and iPad users are not affected by the change, as iOS and iPadOS have never supported Flash.

Following backlash after changing its terms and privacy policy to consolidate a significant amount of data sharing with Facebook, WhatsApp is now assuring users about the privacy measures built into its app.

Last week, WhatsApp began informing users of updates to the app's terms of service and privacy policy. The updated agreements, which users must consent to in order to continue using WhatsApp, explicitly give parent company Facebook access to a large amount of user data. While WhatsApp has shared some user data with Facebook for years, this update consolidates data sharing for all users, including those that chose to opt-out of data sharing with Facebook in the past.

The updated terms help WhatsApp to integrate more closely into Facebook's family of products, as it aims to provide a more coherent experience to users across services, and enables the company to use gathered information on all users to display targeted ads. The widely-reported change was met with an outcry of displeasure on social media, leading to a rush to download rival messaging app Signal, and has even sparked an antitrust investigation in Turkey.

Via posts on social media, WhatsApp is now assuring users that "Our privacy policy update does not affect the privacy of your messages with friends or family." It has also added to its FAQ to address users' privacy concerns relating to data sharing with Facebook.

The FAQ explains that WhatsApp and Facebook cannot see a user's private messages or hear their calls. Logs of who users are messaging and calling are not retained and shared location, contact information, and group membership is kept private.

WhatsApp suggests that the majority of data sharing with Facebook is derived from communicating with businesses that use hosting services from Facebook or after using Facebook-branded commerce services such as Shops. Either may result in targeted ads being shown to users.

However, it is noticeable that WhatsApp has mostly focused on what data is not shared with Facebook, rather than what is. The FAQ update does not acknowledge the fact, as stated under the updated privacy policy, that WhatsApp shares device and interaction information, IP address, and unspecified "other information" with Facebook.

Satechi today announced the launch of the Aluminum 2-in-1 Magnetic Wireless Charging Stand, which is designed to work with the magnets inside Apple's iPhone 12 lineup.

Though the charging stand includes magnets, it is not MagSafe and it is limited to charging an ‌iPhone‌ at 7.5W rather than the 15W that's available with official ‌MagSafe‌ chargers.

The Aluminum 2-in-1 Magnetic Wireless Charging Stand has an upright charger that works with an ‌iPhone‌ 12, and a 5W Qi charging spot at the base that is compatible with AirPods or AirPods Pro. Because it requires a magnetic connection for a device to stay upright, the Aluminum 2-in-1 Magnetic Wireless Charging Stand is not compatible with earlier ‌iPhone‌ models.

The stand features an adjustable ball mount that allows the attached ‌iPhone‌ to be moved and titled into a variety of viewing angles, and an ‌iPhone‌ can be attached either in landscape or portrait mode. Satechi says that there's non-slip padding at the bottom of the charger to keep it secure on a table or desk, and it features LED lights to indicate when devices are charging.

The Aluminum 2-in-1 Magnetic Wireless Charging Stand can be pre-ordered from the Satechi website for $59.99, and through February 15, customers can get a 20 percent discount using the code MAGNETIC at checkout.

LG announced it will launch the world's first rollable smartphone this year, as it offered a sneak peek of the device at CES 2021 with a five-second teaser video.

The clip features a smartphone held in landscape orientation as the display rolls in from an expanded tablet-style form factor screen into a more compact chassis.

The hybrid handset is said to be based on flexible organic light-emitting diode technology, which is reportedly being supplied by China's BOE Technology Group, although the specifics of the tech remain unclear. Speaking at CES, the company told Nikkei Asia that the product would be officially released later this year:

"Our management wanted to show that it is a real product, as there were many rumors around the rollable phone," said Ken Hong, a spokesman for LG. "As it is released at CES 2021, I can tell that it will be launched this year."

LG's rollable display follows the moderate success of Samsung foldable smartphones, and comes as the LG's phone business is struggling financially due to stiff competition from the likes of Samsung, Huawei and Apple.

Apple has explored rollable displays in the past, based on patents from the company. In March 2020, a patent attributed to Apple appeared on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that describes an "Electronic device with flexible display structures."

The patent details a flexible display that can be wrapped around one or more internal roller mechanisms, allowing the screen to expand out of the chassis. A rigid section remains to house the printed circuit boards and other electronic components, but with the addition of the rollable display layers.

"Elongated bistable support members may run along the edges of the display or may be overlapped by a central active area of the display to help stiffen and support the display in its extended position," explains the patent, which conceives the technology as adaptable to anything from a smartphone to a smartwatch.

As with all Apple patents, there's no indication that Apple has plans to bring such a device to market, but it is interesting to see what sorts of future solutions Apple is eyeing as it seeks to innovate beyond current consumer-use technologies.

Tech blogs 91mobile and MySmartPrice on Tuesday posted a series of allegedly leaked factory CAD images of Apple's upcoming fifth-generation 11-inch iPad Pro.

Rumors suggest Apple plans to announce two new ‌iPad Pro‌ models in both 11-inch and 12.9-inch versions, and today's images offer perhaps the clearest indication yet that Apple's next-generation iPad Pros will have minimal, if any, external design changes.

According to MySmartPrice, the the fifth-generation 11-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ will be the same thickness, but Apple will "shave off some millimeters from the length and breadth." The device may also exhibit changes to the internal speaker system, by potentially reducing the number of speakers grilles and relocating them.

Previous rumors about the next-generation ‌iPad Pro‌ models indicate no changes to the display size or housing, but A-series chip performance is expected to be "significantly improved."

According to one rumor, the rear cameras are said to protrude less in the new ‌iPad Pro‌ models. Specifically, the camera bump will remain, but the protrusion of the individual camera lenses will not be required.

There is also the suggestion that Apple will release standard ‌iPad Pro‌ 11-inch and 12.9-inch updates, while also making a separate high-end mini-LED 12.9-inch model, which could be about 0.5mm thicker to accommodate the higher spec display.

DigiTimes believes Apple is working on a 5G iPad with mmWave support, which would be positioned as a high-end ‌iPad Pro‌, and 5G support could be released alongside the new mini-LED display.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that a mini-LED ‌iPad Pro‌ launch is expected in the first half of this year, while DigiTimes also believes a mini-LED ‌iPad Pro‌ will launch in early 2021, as does Korea's ETNews.

Apple's iPhone 12 sales in China exceeded all expectations in the fourth quarter of last year, according to local media sources (via DigiTimes).

Sales reached 18 million units, earning Apple an over 20% market share, with momentum expected to continue through the Lunar New Year holiday, bringing shipment volumes for Q1 2021 on par with the number of units shipped the previous quarter.

The figures are all the more impressive given that prior to the ‌iPhone‌ 12 series launch in October 2020, Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo accounted for over 90% of China's smartphone market.

The staggering fourth-quarter iPhone 12 shipments helped push Apple's share in China's handset segment to over 20% in fourth-quarter 2020 and reduced the combined share of Chinese brands to about 78%, said the sources, citing market data.

The DigiTimes report offers a word of caution regarding whether supply can keep up with demand, following a widening shortage of semiconductors for handset parts.

However, Apple's wholesale adoption of 5G should bode well for it in the mainstream Chinese market, where 5G phones have started replaced 4G models, with shipments totaling 160 million units out of a total of 300 million handsets.

Microsoft today released updates to its suite of Office apps for iPad, including Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Notably, Excel for ‌‌iPad‌‌ now supports Split View, which allows you to open two spreadsheets simultaneously side-by-side to view and edit. Word and PowerPoint received support for Split View in May 2020.

Split View can be accessed by touching and holding on a spreadsheet document in any file view and then dragging it to the left or right side of the screen. To exit Split View, grab the slider in the middle of the screen and drag it to either the left or right to close one of the spreadsheet documents and take the remaining one full-screen.

Meanwhile in PowerPoint, users can now rehearse their presentations with the new Presenter Coach feature, which offers feedback on the things that keep an audience engaged, such as pacing, pitch, filler words, sensitive phrases, and more.

Microsoft has also been working to implement full support for the iPadOS trackpad controls that were introduced in iPadOS 13.4, and the latest version of Word (2.45) does just that. Following the update, users can connect a trackpad and mouse to their ‌iPad‌ to interact with documents. Keyboards with trackpads include Apple's Magic Keyboard and Brydge's Pro+ for the iPad Pro and Logitech's Combo for the 10.2-inch ‌iPad‌ and the 10.5-inch iPad Air.

If you run into trouble with your AirPods Max and need to get a replacement pair under warranty, it looks like the new set will be delivered without a refreshed set of ear cushions.

A 9to5Mac reader sent in a pair of ‌AirPods Max‌ for repair due to an issue with the Digital Crown, and the replacement set that he received back did not include ear cushions.

Apple instead expects users to keep the ear cushions from the damaged set of ‌AirPods Max‌ to use them with the replacement pair, unless of course the ear cushions themselves have also experienced damage. Given the modular design of the ‌AirPods Max‌, it is possible for Apple to ship just the headphones or just the ear cushions for replacement purposes.

Apple's instructions for mailing in the ‌AirPods Max‌ include a diagram that instructs users to remove the ear cushions before shipping the ‌AirPods Max‌ in a repair box.

With replacement AirPods Pro models, Apple does provide new ear tips, but ear tips for the ‌AirPods Pro‌ are priced at $8 rather than $69 like the AirPods Max ear cushions, so it's no surprise these are delivered separately.

At the current time, Apple is not selling ear cushions on a standalone basis, but they will presumably be available when stock improves. ‌AirPods Max‌ purchases from Apple continue to have March delivery dates at the current time.

Intel today showed off its next-generation Alder Lake chips designed for desktop and mobile processing (via The Verge). Intel says that the Alder Lake chips represent a "significant breakthrough" in x86 architecture, and are the most power-scalable system-on-chip from Intel to date.

Coming in the second half of 2021, Alder Lake chips will be built on Intel's new 10nm SuperFin process, and will combine high-performance cores and high-efficiency cores into a single product, much like Apple's M1 chips.

Intel says that these new chips will deliver smarter, faster, and more efficient real-world computing through their ability to maximize power and efficiency.

It's not clear if Apple will have any use for Intel chips going forward as the transition to Apple silicon has already begun. So far, Apple has debuted the ‌M1‌ Mac mini, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air, with additional Apple silicon machines on the horizon for 2021.

With Apple planning to eventually use Apple silicon chips across its entire lineup, it continues to be unclear if there will be additional Macs that use Intel chips as the transition continues.

Apple's worldwide Mac shipments were up in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to new PC shipping estimates shared this afternoon by Gartner. Apple shipped an estimated 6.9 million Macs during the quarter, up from the 5.25 million it shipped in the year-ago quarter, marking growth of 31.3 percent.

Apple was the number four vendor during the quarter, and its market share also grew to 8.7 percent, up from 7.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020. There was growth across the entire PC market, and Lenovo, Dell, Acer Group, and ASUS all saw sales growth.

Lenovo was the number one PC vendor in the world with 21.5 million PCs shipped, followed by HP, with 15.7 million PCs shipped. HP was the only vendor that saw a slight drop in sales in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Dell was the number three vendor with 13.2 million PCs shipped, while Acer and ASUS brought up the rear with 4.7 and 4.6 million PCs shipped, respectively.

Overall, there were 79.4 million PCs shipped in the fourth quarter of 2020, a 10.7 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2019. Total PC shipments hit 275 million in 2020, a 4.8 percent increase from 2019 and the highest growth seen in 10 years.

In the United States, Apple was the number four PC vendor with 2.7 million PCs shipped, up from 2 million in the year-ago quarter for a total of 32 percent growth. HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Microsoft also saw significant growth in U.S. shipments.

Across all of 2020, Apple shipped an estimated 22.5 million Macs worldwide, marking 22.5 percent growth compared to 2019 when it shipped 18.3 million Macs. Apple was the number four vendor for the entire year, trailing Lenovo, HP, and Dell.

IDC also released its own shipping estimates this morning, noting similar significant growth for Apple and other vendors. According to IDC, Apple shipped an estimated 7.4 million Macs, up from 4.9 million in the year-ago quarter for estimated growth of 49.2 percent.

Across 2020, IDC suggests Apple shipped 23 million Macs, up 29.1 percent from the 18 million that it shipped in 2019.

Data shared by Gartner and IDC is estimated and not reflective of Apple's actual sales, though historically, it's not usually too far off. Estimated data used to be able to be confirmed when Apple provided quarterly earnings results with actual Mac sales information, but Apple no longer breaks out unit sales for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, making it impossible to determine exact sales numbers.

Apple in the fourth quarter of 2020 released the M1 Macs, which include the ‌M1‌ MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini. Mac growth could continue to rise significantly in 2021 as Apple is rumored to be overhauling additional Macs with Apple silicon chips, including iMacs, higher-end ‌MacBook Pro‌ models, and more.

Ecobee today announced that its SmartCamera has a new price of $129.99, down from $179.99, and the camera has also been updated with some new features.

In addition to gaining compatibility with HomeKit Secure Video last month, which allows users to securely stream and store video from the SmartCamera on iCloud servers, the indoor security camera now features Spotify integration, smoother panning and zooming, and smoke alarm detection with a subscription to Ecobee's home monitoring service Haven.

- HomeKit Secure Video to safely stream and store videos taken on the ecobee SmartCamera with voice control on Apple’s secure servers. To give users additional peace of mind, the Smart Camera leverages Apple's iCloud service to securely encrypt and store video clips, where they will stay.
- SmartFocus v2 to track the motion of multiple people and pans and zooms more smoothly.
- Spotify Connect to stream anything from Spotify through SmartCamera with voice control.
- Smoke Alarm Detection (with Haven subscription) to alert users and the family when the SmartCamera with voice controls hears the smoke alarm.

The SmartCamera is available at its lower $129.99 price starting today, and users can receive the latest software updates via the Ecobee app.

Key features of the SmartCamera include 1080p image quality, a 180° field of vision, infrared night vision, voice control with Siri or Alexa, built-in speakers with two-way talk, person detection, the ability to set activity zones, and more.

Anker brand Eufy has more affordable indoor security cameras with HomeKit Secure Video, including the Indoor Cam 2K for $39.99.

Western Digital today announced the upcoming launch of several new consumer-oriented portable SSDs with 4TB capacities, with new offerings from the SanDisk, WD, and WD_Black brands. The new 4TB SSDs are designed for gamers, content creators, and creative professionals who need additional storage space to work with.

The SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable NVMe SSD offers up to 2000MB/s read and write speeds, and its aluminum chassis serves as a heatsink to deliver higher sustained speeds. The SanDisk Extreme Pro Portable SSD will be available later this quarter for $750.

Also under the SanDisk brand, Western Digital is offering the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD with read speeds up to 1050MB/s and write speeds up to 1000MB/s. The Extreme Portable SSD features two-meter drop protection and IP55 water and dust resistance. The new SSD will be available later this quarter for $700.

For gamers, the WD_Black offers read speeds up to 2000MB/s, and it is compatible with PCs, PlayStations, and Xbox One game libraries. It will be available later this quarter for $750.

Under the WD brand, Western Digital debuted the latest MyPassport SSD, which offers read speeds up to 1050MB/s and write speeds up to 1000MB/s. It features a shock and vibration resistant metal design that is drop resistant up to 6.5 feet, and it comes in colors that include blue, gray, red, gold, and silver. It will be available later this quarter for $680.

All of the new SSDs will be available from the Western Digital Store and other major retailers when they launch.

Apple today released iOS 12.5.1, an update that is available for older iPhones unable to install the iOS 14 update. The update features an Exposure Notifications bug fix.

The iOS 12.5.1 update can be downloaded all on eligible devices over-the-air in the Settings app. To access the new software, go to Settings > General > Software Update.

Apple in December released iOS 12.5 alongside iOS 14.3, bringing support for Exposure Notifications to older devices for the first time.

According to Apple's release notes, today's update addresses a bug that could cause Exposure Notifications to incorrectly display logging profile language.

Apple's Exposure Notifications system is now available in a wide range of countries, and many states have also adopted it, including North Dakota, Arizona, Delaware, Nevada, Alabama, Colorado, Wyoming, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, Washington, Connecticut, Nevada, the District of Columbia, and California.

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.

Popular accessory maker Anker today unveiled a whole range of new products that will be coming out over the course of the next few months.

There are a range of magnetic cases for the iPhone 12 that will work with MagSafe and non-MagSafe magnetic accessories, with the cases offering simple but protective designs. Anker's ‌iPhone‌ cases will come out in mid-January with prices ranging from $20.99 to $25.99.

There are several new magnetic power banks that will be able to attach to the back of an ‌iPhone‌, with capacities up to 10,000mAh. These will snap right onto the ‌iPhone‌ and will be able to charge it at up to 7.5W while the ‌iPhone‌ is in use. Power banks will be released in February 2021 with prices ranging from $37.99 to $51.99.

Anker is also debuting new magnetic wireless chargers and stands, which will attach to Apple's ‌iPhone‌ 12 models. These appear to be magnetic rather than ‌MagSafe‌, and will charge at 7.5W. There are a range of stands, including multi-device stands, with prices that will range from $20.99 to $159.99. Anker says its magnetic wireless chargers will come out in March 2021.

Though not magnetic, Anker is introducing a PowerWave Go 3-in-1 stand that can charge an ‌iPhone‌, AirPods, and Apple Watch all at once. It includes a detachable 10,000mAh wireless pad for charging on the go as well, with the power bank able to be charged through the stand.

The Apple Watch module is removable and can be paired with the power bank for portable Apple Watch charging capabilities. The PowerWave Go 3-in-1 Stand will be priced at $159.99 to $199.99, and it is set to come out in March 2021.

There are a range of new PowerLine III Flow Lightning to USB-C cables in pastel colors, along with a PowerExpand 5-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 Mini Dock that will be able to charge laptops at up to 85W and works with a single 8K display or dual 4K displays. The PowerExpand 5-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 Mini Dock will be released on February 18, 2021, and it will cost $199.99.

OtterBox is teaming up with Microsoft to launch several new mobile gaming accessories, which include the OtterBox Mobile Gaming Clip and the Easy Grip Gaming Case.

The Mobile Gaming Clip is designed to work with the Xbox controller, and it is a simple clip that connects a controller to one of Apple's iPhones. OtterBox says that the design is meant to balance the weight of the iPhone on the controller to keep wrists comfortable during hours of gaming.

OtterBox's Mobile Gaming Clip is able to hold an ‌iPhone‌ (or an Android phone) securely in place, and it is easy to attach and detach as needed. Multiple angle adjustments are available, and it has an extendable arm to fit multiple phone sizes.

The clip is also able to be used in a table top capacity, serving as a stand when the ‌iPhone‌ is detached from the controller. OtterBox says that the Mobile Gaming Clip has a premium rubber grip and is able to collapse flat for easy transportation.

The Mobile Gaming Clip is priced at $29.95 and it works with the Xbox One controller, Xbox Series X S controller, and Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2.

OtterBox is also introducing a series of Easy Grip Gaming Cases that are specifically designed for use when playing mobile games. The cases offer an anti-slip grip design and OtterBox's "CoolVergence" technology is designed to expel heat to reduce the risk of overheating.

OtterBox says that the gaming cases are easy to clean and have been infused with lasting antimicrobial technology, plus they offer OtterBox Drop+ protection to keep the ‌iPhone‌ safe from drops and scratches. All buttons also work as expected, and the case is "optimized for 5G."

Easy Grip Gaming Cases come in three colors, Lucid Dream, Glitch, and Squid Ink. Priced at $54.95, the cases are available for the iPhone 12 mini, ‌iPhone‌ 12, ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max, ‌iPhone‌ 11, iPhone 11 Pro Max, ‌iPhone‌ SE, ‌iPhone‌ 8, and ‌iPhone‌ 7.

Other OtterBox gaming accessories include the Gaming Glass Privacy Guard screen protector that's meant to block viewing the ‌iPhone‌'s display from the side, the Easy Grip Controller Shell for Xbox controllers, and the Gaming Carrying Case for protecting a controller during travel.

OtterBox's new gaming accessories will be available for pre-order on January 25, and will start shipping out in mid-February.

Belkin today debuted the Boost Charge Pro 2-in-1 Wireless Charger Stand with MagSafe, which is designed to work with Apple's iPhone 12 lineup.

The Boost Charge Pro 2-in-1 with ‌MagSafe‌ is similar to the existing Boost Charge Pro 3-in-1 with MagSafe, but it includes a single ‌MagSafe‌ charger and eliminates the accompanying Apple Watch charger. It also features a wireless charging base that supports AirPods, AirPods Pro, or another ‌iPhone‌ that charges over Qi-based wireless charging.

The ‌MagSafe‌ charger is able to charge Apple's ‌iPhone‌ 12 models at 15W, while the base charger charges at 5W. The ‌MagSafe‌ charger works just like Apple's ‌MagSafe‌ charger and it can be used in either portrait or landscape orientation. It comes in either black or white. Belkin is pricing the Boost Charge Pro 2-in-1 with ‌MagSafe‌ at $99.95, and it will be launching in March or April 2021.

Belkin today also announced the launch of Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds, which are wire-free earbuds that offer up to eight hours of play time, environmental noise cancellation, and Qi-based wireless charging.

The Freedom True Wireless Earbuds are the first third-party product compatible with the Find My app, and will be able to be tracked and located right alongside Apple devices in ‌Find My‌ if they should be lost or stolen.

Belkin's Soundform Freedom True Wireless Earbuds will be available in March or April 2021.

Belkin's Linksys brand today announced the launch of the Linksys AXE8400 Wi-Fi 6E Mesh System that takes advantage of the 6GHz band to provide more bandwidth to consumers for faster networks and better reliability.

The Linksys AXE8400 uses Qualcomm's Networking Pro 1210 platform to offer speeds that Linksys says are 2x faster than competing routers. According to Linksys, it is an ideal choice for homes that use up a lot of bandwidth as it can support multiple simultaneous activities for those who learn, work, and live all in one place.

The new Linksys system is certified with the Wi-Fi Alliance and the FCC, and it has tri-band capabilities, supporting 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz, plus there's a 5Gb/s WAN port. There are four Gigabit LAN ports and a single USB 3.0 port for hardware connections.

The Linksys AXE8400 is able to cover up to 3,000 square feet per node and can handle up to 65 connected devices all sharing the same bandwidth. It is compatible with other Linksys Intelligent Mesh products and can support smart devices that are 6E-certified and those that are not.

Linksys will begin selling the AXE8400 starting in the Spring or Summer of 2021, and it will be priced at $449 for a single node, $849.99 for a two node setup, and $1,199.99 for a three node setup.

Alongside the Linksys AXE8400, Linksys is today also introducing the next-generation version of Linksys Aware, its motion sensing technology that works with third-party Wi-Fi connected devices like Wemo smart plugs and Belkin smart speakers to expand motion-sensing coverage capabilities.

With the Linksys aware technology, existing smart devices serve as points of communication for greater motion sensing range. Features include motion alerts viewable in the Linksys app when activity is detected, customizable motion sensitivity levels, and a live graph to show real-time and historical motion data throughout the home.

The Linksys Aware update will be available in the Linksys app in March or April of 2021. After a 90-day free trial, it is priced at $2.99 per month or $24.99 per year.