MacRumors

Another unique Apple logo hashflag has been prepared for next week's "One More Thing" Apple event.

The custom Twitter hashtag includes an Apple logo in the same orange, red, purple, and blue hues as Apple's event invites. The hashflag is set to go live at 12:00 EST.

Twitter allows brands to add custom emojis next to hashtags as a marketing strategy. According to Agency Creative, these "hashflags" can cost upwards of one million dollars, and they are commonly used for large events like the Super Bowl or holidays.

Apple has used custom hashflags for its two previous Apple events in September and October. Ahead of the "Time Flies" event in October, Apple customized the #AppleEvent Twitter hashtag before announcing the event, thereby revealing that the release of invitations was imminent. Since the "Hi, Speed" October iPhone event, Apple seems to have been conscious to not add the hashtag logo until after invites have been sent out.

Tuesday's Apple event is set to take place on Tuesday, November 10, and is likely to see the announcement of the first Macs with Apple Silicon chips.

Apple today informed customers that its iPhone Upgrade Program is temporarily unavailable in England due to new COVID-19 lockdown restrictions that have gone into effect across the country starting today until December 2.

In the United Kingdom, the iPhone Upgrade Program requires visiting an Apple Store, but England's lockdown restrictions have forced these retail locations to operate on a click-and-collect basis only with Express Pickup windows at the entrance. Due to these restrictions, Apple cannot allow customers inside the stores to complete their iPhone upgrade at this time, according to an email shared with MacRumors by several readers.

As noted by 9to5Mac's Michael Steeber, all Apple Stores in England are closed today and will reopen Friday with click-and-collect service.

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.

Plans are in place to allow users to play Epic Games' "Fortnite" on iOS and iPadOS again using Nvidia's GeForce Now cloud gaming service in Safari, the BBC has discovered.

Nvidia has reportedly developed a version of its GeForce Now cloud gaming service that works in Safari on iOS and iPadOS, and Fortnite looks to be a key title on the platform for Apple devices that have lost the game due to the ongoing legal battle between ‌Epic Games‌ and Apple.

In August 2020, Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store after ‌Epic Games‌ introduced a direct payment option in the app for its in-game currency, defying the ‌App Store‌ rules. In what appears to have been an orchestrated move, ‌Epic Games‌ promptly filed a lawsuit and a press campaign against Apple, accusing the company of anti-competitive behavior.

Using an online streaming service will allow ‌Epic Games‌ to circumvent Apple's ban on the game as an app. iPhone and iPad owners will be able to play Fortnite without charge through GeForce Now's free basic tier, though Nvidia limits these sessions to a duration of one hour.

Other games streaming services, such as Google Stadia, Microsoft xCloud, and Amazon Luna, have also laid out plans to access iOS users via Safari. However, none of these other platforms hosts Fortnite, leaving GeForce Now as the only way to play the game on ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌.

Nvidia has not yet formally announced that GeForce will be coming to iOS, but it is expected to do so before the winter holidays. The service is already available for Mac.

After a California judge denied ‌Epic Games‌' request for a preliminary injunction that would have required Apple to allow Fortnite back into the ‌App Store‌, the court case between Apple and ‌Epic Games‌ is due to go to trial in May.

Facebook is now rolling out a new disappearing messages feature to all WhatsApp users on iOS and Android, allowing messages, photos, and videos to be marked to disappear after seven days (via TechCrunch).

Users can use the feature for direct messages, and it can be enabled in groups by members with administrator privileges. The seven-day limit exists regardless of whether the recipient reads the message or not, with the timer starting from when the message is sent.

Facebook also hinted at potentially offering a wider range of time limits in the future:

"We will keep an eye on feedback about how people are using it and liking it and see if it needs adjusting in the future," a spokesperson for Facebook said. "For now we are starting with seven days, because it feels like a nice balance between the utility you need for global text based conversations and the feeling of things not sticking around forever."

The implementation of the feature was reportedly delayed by the need for end-to-end encryption:

"[End-to-end encryption] was partly why it took us so long to implement this feature, because we wanted to retain the e2e capabilities that WhatsApp users expect and love," the spokesperson remarked.

There are also indications that Facebook may be looking to carry over the feature to its Messenger app, where it would sit in addition to the pre-existing "secret" messaging feature which allows the sender to control how long a message remains in a separate feed. This seems increasingly likely given Facebook's long-term plan to merge Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp chat platforms.

Earlier this week, WhatsApp began rolling out a new and improved way to manage storage in the app, helping users identify, select, and bulk delete GIFs, photos, and videos that may be filling up their device.

As with the recent storage changes, the new disappearing messages feature will not be enabled by default. It will instead need to be actively turned on in settings.

Apple is facing a severe shortage of vital power management chips for the iPhone 12, as well as other devices, according to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg notes that power management is particularly important for the ‌iPhone‌ 12 due to its additional camera features and 5G capabilities. Apple has multiple power management chip suppliers, as revealed by a recent teardown from iFixit.

The ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro uses a power management chip for the camera system from Texas Instruments, and an equivalent chip from STMicroelectronics and Qualcomm for the 5G modem, in addition to a power management chip designed by Apple itself.

The shortage of power management chips is reportedly causing a bottleneck in Apple's already frustrated supply situation, further complicating its ability to meet holiday demand.

Apple is now facing supply constraints across multiple devices, including the ‌iPhone‌, iPad, and Apple Watch, leading to long wait times for orders. At the end of last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook told investors that the company is "working really, really hard" to remedy the ongoing supply issues.

Earlier today, it was reported that Apple has been repurposing components from iPad models in the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro in an effort to meet demand.

Amid long waiting times for the iPhone 12 and ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro around the world, Apple has reportedly placed large orders for older ‌iPhone‌ models and is reallocating iPad parts to make up for shortages, according to Nikkei Asia Review.

Demand for ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro in particular has been higher than expected, and the issue has reportedly been compounded by supply constraints for specific parts such as power chips and LiDAR components.

Apple is said to be reallocating components from ‌iPad‌ models to the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro in an effort to prioritize supply shortages, according to two sources of Nikkei Asia. This has ostensibly affected around two million ‌iPad‌ units, scuppering Apple's ‌iPad‌ production plans for this year.

To "fill empty space on shelves," Apple is apparently also asking suppliers to prepare more than 20 million ‌iPhone‌ 11, ‌iPhone‌ SE, and ‌iPhone‌ XR models for the holiday shopping season and early next year.

The order is equivalent to more than a quarter of the orders Apple placed for the ‌iPhone‌ 12 series this year, which is speculated to be around 75 to 80 million units. Nikkei Asia claims that the orders for the ‌iPhone‌ 11 and the ‌iPhone‌ SE are close to around ten million units each and faring much better than expected with consumers.

Leaker known as "DuanRui" has today shared images from Chinese site 52audio of what appears to be redesigned third-generation AirPods.

According to translated text that accompanied the images, the first image supposedly depicts a single "earphone shell" and the "charging cockpit shell." The earbud itself seems to be completely redesigned compared to the first and second-generation AirPods, with a larger, rounder shape.

The third-generation AirPods are described as "a scaled-down version of AirPods Pro," with the "internal structure of the headset and charging box" being "basically the same."

A render of the two earbuds shows that they have clearly taken design cues from ‌AirPods Pro‌, with shorter stems and a larger in-ear portion, but without the ‌AirPods Pro‌'s detachable in-ear tips.

The third-generation AirPods will also apparently gain "pressure-sensitive touch" controls from ‌AirPods Pro‌, and this is indicated by depressions in the stem. Without in-ear tips, it is unlikely that they could achieve Active Noise Cancelation, which could serve to differentiate the two models.

Third-generation AirPods have been rumored for some time. The report states that the "AirPods Pro Lite" that were rumored earlier this year were in fact third-generation AirPods.

A recent report by Bloomberg surmised that third-generation AirPods would arrive next year with a design similar to ‌‌AirPods Pro‌‌, but minus high-end features such as Active Noise Cancelation.

Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has also said that third-generation AirPods will launch in the first half of 2021 with a design and compact system-in-package "similar to ‌AirPods Pro‌." Manufacturers are also reportedly preparing for a 2021 launch.

Although the legitimacy of these images is not yet known, the similarity of the alleged images to a range of leaks from reliable sources is striking. The chances of the images being genuine may also be enhanced by the fact they were shared by DuanRui, who has accurately leaked the correct names of the iPhone 12 models and an iPad Air 4 manual revealing its new design.

Update: We've removed an x-ray image shared by 52audio that is clearly just a squished version of the ‌AirPods Pro‌ case. The original report did note that the "authenticity of this picture is in doubt," while the legitimacy of the other images included in the report remains unclear.

Apple is intending to produce 2.5 million MacBooks with Apple Silicon processors by February 2021, according to a new report by Nikkei Asian Review.

The initial production orders for the first MacBooks with ‌Apple Silicon‌ are reportedly equivalent to almost 20 percent of all 12.6 million MacBook shipments in 2019.

Nikkei Asia's sources stated that the ‌Apple Silicon‌ chips within the new MacBooks will be manufactured by TSMC using a five-nanometer fabrication process. This appears to corroborate other rumors that ‌Apple Silicon‌ chips for the Mac will be variants of the A14 chip from the iPad Air and iPhone 12, which is the only Apple chip made using a five-nanometer process so far.

The report claims that Apple will introduce further Mac devices with ‌Apple Silicon‌ in the second quarter of 2021, as Apple gradually replaces the Intel chips across its entire Mac lineup.

The first Macs with ‌Apple Silicon‌ are expected to be unveiled on Tuesday, November 10, at the "One More Thing..." Apple event.

Qualcomm earned $8.3 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to the company's earnings report that was shared today. That's up 73 percent from the fourth quarter of 2019, with Qualcomm's strong performance due in part to the 5G chips used in the iPhone 12 and other smartphones on the market.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said that some of the Q4 earnings report reflected ‌iPhone‌ sales, but earnings will be more substantial in the next quarter. "Our investments in 5G are coming to fruition and showing benefits in our licensing and product businesses," said Mollenkopf.

Qualcomm also received a one-time payment of $1.8 billion from Huawei, but even without that revenue, Qualcomm's sales were up 35 percent year over year.

Apple and Qualcomm last year settled a vicious legal battle over licensing fees after it became clear Apple would not be able to rely on Intel chips for its 5G iPhones. Apple and Qualcomm signed a multi-year licensing deal and all of the ‌iPhone‌ 12 models are equipped with Qualcomm's 5G modems.

Going forward, Apple plans to use Qualcomm chips for years to come. A recent Apple roadmap suggested the company plans to rely on Qualcomm's X60, X65, and X70 chips through at least 2023. Apple is, however, developing its own modem chips in house and at some point, may shift to its own technology.

Apple in 2019 purchased the majority of Intel's smartphone modem business for $1 billion, giving Apple new wireless technology patents and engineers with expertise in modem development. Intel's former chip team has joined Apple's cellular technologies group, and at the time, Apple chip chief Johny Srouji said that the purchase would allow Apple to expedite development on future products.

Apple's iPhone 12 Pro has successfully outperformed the Samsung Note 20 Ultra in a real world app speed test conducted by PhoneBuff, with the A14 chip and 6GB RAM winning out over the Snapdragon 856 chip and 12GB RAM in Samsung's smartphone.

The performance test measured how long it took each phone to open a series of apps. Each smartphone opened the same series of apps, including Facebook, the camera app, Microsoft apps, Adobe Rush, games, and more.

The ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro pulled well ahead in the portion of the test that included rendering video in Adobe Rush, and kept up the lead through launching several games. Apple's ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro finished the first "lap" of opening apps up in a minute and 41 seconds, while it took the Note 20 Ultra one minute and 55 seconds to complete the same tasks.

During the second lap, which measures how well the smartphones are able to keep apps running in the background, the ‌iPhone‌ finished in 42 seconds, while the Note 20 Ultra took 46 seconds.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra was the prior winner of app speed tests conducted by Phone Buff, but the ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro is the new champion and the best performing smartphone available on the market today when it comes to that particular app speed test. According to PhoneBuff, it has been 20 months since an ‌iPhone‌ last held the top spot.

Korea's ETNews today reports that LG will supply Apple with Mini-LED displays for new iPad models set to launch in the first quarter of 2021. The report, highlighted by Patently Apple, claims that LG will likely begin mass production of the displays at the end of this year.

Mini-LED backlighting provides many of the same benefits as OLED displays, including higher brightness, improved contrast ratio, and increased power efficiency.

Rumors of a Mini-LED iPad Pro have been plentiful. Back in June, cryptic-but-reliable leaker L0vetodream said that Apple planned to launch new iPad Pro models with an A14X chip, 5G, and a Mini-LED display in the first half of 2021. Multiple sources have claimed this iPad Pro will be a 12.9-inch model, including analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and DigiTimes.

Apple last refreshed the iPad Pro in March, but it was a relatively minor update, with new features including an A12Z Bionic chip that is essentially an A12X chip with an extra GPU core enabled, an Ultra Wide camera that enables 0.5x zoom, a LiDAR Scanner for enhanced augmented reality, and better sounding microphones. It was the first update to the iPad Pro since the device received a major redesign in October 2018.

Today's report claims that Apple also plans to use Mini-LED displays for future MacBook and iMac models, as previously rumored.

Apple has signed an agreement with one of Israel's leading credit card companies to bring Apple Pay to the country by the end of the year, according to Ynet.

Isracard announced to the stock exchange that it has signed an agreement with Apple for four years that will allow its card to be used in Apple's digital payment method.

Apple has been in negotiations with financial institutions in the Middle East to bring ‌Apple Pay‌ to Israel since February. Apple routinely takes commission from national banking institutions in return for access to ‌‌Apple Pay‌, and it appears that Isracard is the first credit card company in the country to formulate an agreement with Apple.

Many Israeli businesses have already adopted the Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) standard for mobiles, allowing customer account credentials to be loaded directly onto NFC-enabled smartphones and used in contactless transactions.

Unlike Android devices, Apple's devices don't allow access to the NFC chip through apps other than Apple's own Wallet app, which means financial bodies must sign an ‌‌Apple Pay‌‌ agreement that allows the card to be registered in the Wallet.

Apple maintains a complete list of the countries where ‌‌‌Apple Pay‌‌‌ is available on its support site, and we have a detailed Apple Pay roundup with everything you need to know about Apple's payments service.

Update: ‌Apple Pay‌ is also now available at Bank of Ireland.

(Thanks, Ohad and forum member iLoveDeveloping!)

Spotify has started rolling out support for standalone streaming through the Spotify app for Apple Watch. With the new feature, Spotify users can listen to music or podcasts from Spotify over WiFi or cellular without having to have an iPhone nearby.

There has been a Spotify Apple Watch app available for the past few years, but the standalone streaming option is new. Spotify has been testing the feature for a few months, and prior to now, listening to Spotify required an ‌iPhone‌ even on Apple Watch models with standalone cellular connections.

Spotify Music can be streamed directly from the Apple Watch to Bluetooth headphones, which is ideal in situations where the ‌iPhone‌ isn't needed such as exercising.

The feature continues to be available in a beta capacity and is not available for all users at this time, but Spotify has confirmed that it is "rolling out" as of today. German site Macerkopf.de first spotted the change, which was confirmed by TechCrunch.

"We're focused on developing experiences that enable users to listen to Spotify wherever and whenever they want - regardless of the device or platform. After an initial testing period, we are now rolling out streaming capabilities for Spotify on the Apple Watch," a spokesperson told TechCrunch.

• How to Use Spotify on Apple Watch

It may take some time for the new standalone streaming option to be available to all Apple Watch owners. The Spotify app can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

In a recently updated support document, Apple has indicated that its new MagSafe Charger will be limited to 12W peak power delivery when used with the upcoming iPhone 12 mini, compared to up to 15W for all other iPhone 12 models.

Apple says the iPhone 12 mini can achieve this 12W with a USB-C Power Delivery power adapter that is at or above 9V/2.03A. However, the support document notes that power delivered to any iPhone 12 model at any moment will vary depending on various factors, including temperature and system activity.

For other iPhone 12 models, peak 15W power can be achieved with a USB-C Power Delivery power adapter at or above 9V/2.22A or 9V/2.56A, according to Apple.

The support document also notes that when Lightning accessories such as EarPods are connected to any iPhone 12 model, the MagSafe Charger is limited to 7.5W charging to comply with regulatory standards.

Apple says the MagSafe Charger should be connected to a power source before placing an iPhone on it, as this allows the charger to verify that it is safe to deliver maximum power. If you place your iPhone on the MagSafe Charger before plugging it in, simply remove your iPhone, wait three seconds, and then put it back on to resume maximum power delivery.

MagSafe is a new feature on all iPhone 12 models that allows for magnetic accessories to be attached to the back of the devices, including Apple's MagSafe Charger for more precise wireless charging. The MagSafe Charger is available now for $39, while the iPhone 12 mini will be available to pre-order starting this Friday, November 6.

The first hands-on video and images of Apple's iPhone 12 and ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro leather cases have been shared online by German site Macerkopf.

The video and images were reportedly sent to Macerkopf by a reader who obtained a selection of cases early. One case for each of the three device sizes, encompassing the iPhone 12 Pro Max, ‌iPhone‌ 12 and 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 mini, are shown in Black and Saddle Brown.

The cases appear to be mostly similar to Apple's leather cases from previous years, with metal buttons and a soft-touch interior, but with the exception of a ring on the inside of the case to indicate MagSafe's array of magnets. The leather cases also seem to fully cover the bottom of the device like Apple's new silicone cases for added protection.

Although Apple's clear and silicone cases for the ‌iPhone‌ 12 and ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro have been on sale for some time, the leather cases have not yet been made available to customers.

Apple's full selection of leather cases with ‌MagSafe‌ for the ‌iPhone 12 mini‌, ‌iPhone‌ 12, ‌iPhone‌ 12 Pro, and ‌iPhone 12 Pro Max‌ will be available from this Friday, alongside pre-orders of the ‌iPhone 12 mini‌ and ‌iPhone 12 Pro Max‌.