Mobile Devices - Page 29

Apple's first iOS 17.4 beta is now available for download by developers as they put it though its paces before it becomes available to everyone. That'll likely happen within the next few weeks and this first beta has already given us a glimpse at what new features we can look forward to.

One of those new features will be handy for people who ar multilingual and use Siri to read their messages. As seen in the iOS 17.4 beta 1 release, a new option will allow people to add a new language for when Siri reads messages. This change does not affect the main Siri language and is only applied to reading messages that have been received.

Apple's description of the feature says that Siri will also read messages using languages in the list, with multiple languages able to be added at once. Apple also notes that the languages selected here will not change the primary language that Siri listens to and responds in, ensuring that usual Siri usage will remain untouched by this setting.

If you're an iPhone gamer you're no doubt familiar with the idea of downloading games from the App Store and Apple Arcade, but game streaming services are also another option. Services like Xbox Cloud Gaming and NVIDIA GeForce Now are two such game streaming services, but they have never been allowed into the App Store for various reasons. Instead, Apple forced Microsoft and NVIDIA to launch web apps that allowed people to visit a website in Safari and then access the streaming services that way. That is now changing.

As part of a larger set of changes to the App Store and the way that the iPhone is going to be used by millions, Apple has now confirmed that it is going to allow game-streaming apps into the App Store for the very first time. The change will allow companies like Microsoft and NVIDIA to ditch their web apps in favor of a real app that can be downloaded via the App Store.

While it isn't yet clear whether those companies and others intend to go that route, there are reasons why they might want to. For example, having an app in the App Store instantly makes it more visible to iPhone users and definitely easier for people to use if they are not familiar with the way web apps work.

Apple's iPhones have featured NFC chips for years now, including the latest and greatest iPhone 15 models. Those chips can be used for reading NFC tags of course, and they are also what makes contactless payments work when using Apple Pay, too. However, Apple Pay is the only kind of contactless payment system that Apple allows the iPhone to work with - or at least, it was.

As part of a wide-ranging series of changes made at the behest of the EU's Digital Markets Act, Apple has confirmed that it intends to begin allowing the iPhone's NFC chip to be used for third-party payments for the very first time - but only in the EU. The move could potentially allow companies like PayPal and Google to offer their own payment wallets and systems to iPhone users.

Apple's press release said that it will offer "new APIs enabling developers to use NFC technology in their banking and wallet apps throughout the European Economic Area," adding that Apple is also introducing new controls that will allow iPhone owners to select a new third-party contactless payment app and service as their default. That would then be the app that launched when double-pressing the power button rather than the Wallet and Apple Pay feature that such an action triggers today.

We've been hearing rumors of new iPads arriving in the first few months of this year and two of those will likely be new OLED iPad Pro models. Those tablets are expected to come in 11-inch and 12.9-inch variations and a new report suggests that there will be one as-yet unreported change beyond the display and internal upgrades.

According to that report by MacRumors and developer Steve Moser, Apple is going to move the iPad Pro's FaceTime camera from the top of the display to the side which means that it will then be moved to the top of the iPad when it is used in portrait mode. Historically, all iPads have had their FaceTime camera a the top of the display when it's in the portrait orientation but this change is going to change that, we're told. Notably, Apple does have one iPad where the camera is on the top in landscape mode - that tablet is the base model 10th-gen iPad.

According to MacRumors, code found in the first iOS 17.4 beta suggests that "During ‌Face ID‌ setup, iPad needs to be in landscape with the camera at the top of the screen."

Apple's Siri might not be the best digital assistant around right now, but it could be about to get a big boost when iOS 18 ships later this year. That's according to a new Financial Times report based on information from the analysts at Morgan Stanley.

The report suggests that Apple will sue iOS 18 to give Siri a leg up thanks to new Large Language Model features that will allow Siri to make use of generative AI for the first time. That, in theory, could see Siri able to better compete with similar digital assistants as well as ChatGPT, the OpenAI tool that has taken the world by storm over the last year or so.

There have been reports of an AI push from Apple in 2024 for months now, and this report appears to back that up. Apple is thought to be gearing its devices towards an AI future with the latest chips offered in iPhones, iPads, and Macs according to analysts at semiconductor consulting firm SemiAnalysis. With Apple's Vision Pro on the horizon, we can expect that Siri will play a big role in the world of spatial computing, too.

Then the European Union's deadline for Apple to allow apps to be sideloaded on iPhones comes around in early March, the company will have no choice but to comply. And comply it will according to reports, but there will still be some considerable caveats according to a new report.

Apple has until March 6 to enable sideloading but a new Wall Street Journal report claims that Apple intends to enforce the same limitations on sideloaded apps as it does on those that are available via the App Store. That will include plans to review every app and even collect money from developers, the report suggests.

It isn't immediately clear how Apple intends to make this work, however. It's possible Apple may try to collect commission on all sales made outside of the App Store just as it intends to do after allowing developers to point users to alternative payment methods - a change that is coming about after complaints that developers must pay 30% to Apple whenever they sell an app or in-app purchase. However, sales made outside of the App Store are going to be subject to a 27% commission anyway, making the whole process somewhat pointless. It seems Apple intends to go a similar route with sideloading.

Apple's iPhone 16 Pro Max isn't expected to be officially unveiled until this coming September, but the leaks are starting to come thick and fast ahead of that time. The latest suggests that buyers can look forward to a sizeable camera upgrade that won't be part of the smaller iPhone 16 Pro's arsenal.

That upgrade will reportedly see the new iPhone 16 Pro Max gain an upgraded main camera sensor that will make it an "image flagship," a quote that suggests Apple could be about to lean heavily on camera performance for its upcoming model.

The report, via MacRumors, comes from Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station and suggests that the iPhone 16 Pro Max's main camera will be based on a customized 48-megapixel Sony IMX903 sensor. The sensor will offer advanced features including a 14-bit Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) and Digital Gain Control (DCG). The two improvements should ensure higher-quality image data conversion and improved noise control and dynamic range respectively.

Google's Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro have only been on sale for a few months at this point and the company isn't expected to announce the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro models until the second half of this year. But that hasn't stopped the best of the bunch from leaking ahead of time with brand-new renders appearing online.

The renders show the Pixel 9 Pro model in a black finish and we have to say that the phone looks pretty stunning. In fact, it's fair to say that there is more than a little of the iPhone 15 Pro look about this thing which isn't a negative by any stretch.

The leaked renders come via MySmartPrice and leaker OnLeaks and come with a few details of note. Things start with a large 6.5-inch flat display which is smaller than the previous Pixel 8 Pro. A centered hole-punch camera will also reportedly be offered while bezels will be suitably thin on all four sides of the display.

Apple has found itself in more hot water over the way it runs its iPhone App Store after it was forced to pay Russian regulators $13.4 million as a result of an antitrust fine. The move comes as Apple recently changed its App Store policies surrounding payment methods and this press release suggests it's Apple's previous stance that led to the fine.

That previous stance meant that App Store developers were not able to link to payment options outside the App Store or even inform customers that they might exist. The press release says that Apple also required that

"Apple forced Russian developers of iOS apps to use the company's payment tool in their apps," the regulator said in a report published by the Russian News Agency. "App Store rules prohibited iOS app developers from informing customers inside the app about the possibility of paying for purchases outside the App Store and using alternative payment methods," it continued.

Apple has long been rumored to have plans to launch a new 12,9-inch iPad alongside a refreshed 10,9-inch model, and now a new leak appears to have shared the gargantuan tablet. The leak comes in the form of new CAD renders which show the tablet from all angles including a rear that has a single camera and LED module.

The leak, which comes via 91Mobiles, shows the tablet will not have a Home button as you'd expect, while a camera will be placed at the top of the device. There is no indication that there is Face ID included in the iPad AIr with Touch ID instead being built right into the sleep/wake button just as is the case with the current 10.9-inch variant.

The new iPad Air will be powered by USB-C as you'd expect from a modern iPad, while the speaker grilles ar relocated at the top and bottom which should suggest stereo audio will be offered.

Ever since the iPhone was first released in 2007 the only way to install apps has been via the App Store, unless you went down the jailbreaking route of course. But that's all expected to change soon with customers in the EU likely to be allowed to sideload apps as soon as March.

That's the case thanks to an EU Digital Markets Act requirement for Apple to allow sideloading by March 6, and it's believed that Apple is getting ready to add support for sideloading in the upcoming iOS 17.4 release. That update hasn't begun beta testing yet, but MacRumors reports that it expects the first beta to be released as early as next week.

Apple CEO Tim Cook famously said that allowing app sideloading on the iPhone "would destroy the security of the iPhone and a lot of the privacy initiatives that we've built into the App Store." But that's a stance that is going to have to change by March 6. It isn't yet clear exactly how Apple will handle sideloading however, and it's likely that the company will still require that app developers pay it a commission based on sales made via iPhone apps. Apple recently began to allow developers to direct users to payment methods outside of the App Store, but it still requires a 27% commission on those sales, and something similar could be enforced with sideloading, too.

If you own an older Honda Accord and have your eye on Apple CarPlay but don't want to have to buy a new car to get it, you might be in luck after it was reported that a retrofit option could be in the cards. What's more, Honda is thought to be adding wireless CarPlay, allowing people to use the feature without connecting any cables.

AutoBlog reports that while people are keeping their cars for longer than ever, Honda wants to find a way to give people a chance to use CarPlay without having to buy an entirely new vehicle. The report says that Honda will offer a retrofit option for the Accord model year 2018 to 2022 and that owners will be able to visit a website by the end of this month to schedule the service at one of its dealers.

However, Honda has not yet shared details about how much the new retrofit service will cost, although the report notes that Mazda offers a similar program for $199. That isn't an extortionate amount for people who want to be able to use a first-party solution rather than buy an aftermarket headset or display that they stick to their dashboard. The addition of wireless CarPlay rather than standard wired CarPlay is also a big boost here.

If you're an iPhone or Mac owner you might want to consider downloading new software updates that are available as of yesterday with Apple confirming that they both include security fixes. What's more, those security fixes relate to a vulnerability that may have been actively exploited in the wild.

The two software updates in question include iOS 17.3 for the iPhone and macOS 14.3 for the Mac, with both software updates now available for download via their respective software update mechanisms.

MacRumors reports that the fixes themselves both relate to a WebKit bug that could potentially allow maliciously crafted content to cause arbitrary code to be run on the devices in question. Apple's security webpage notes that it is aware of reports that the vulnerability could have been exploited which makes it all the more important that people update their devices as as soon as possible.

Apple's Vision Pro launch in February will be just the beginning of a slew of new hardware releases it seems, with one new report suggesting that laptop cans will be able to choose between two new M3-powered models.

That's according to a new report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, writing in the paywalled version of the weekly Power On newsletter that was later picked up by MacRumors. According to that report, Apple will unveil new M3-powered 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air laptops in either March or April of this year.

Gurman reportedly said that Apple plans to release multiple MacBook Air laptops with M3 chips this spring, suggesting that it will be both the 13- and 15-inch models that are updated. This would be the first time that the two differently sized laptops have been released at the same time, with Apple previously staggering the two throughout the year. However, a simultaneous release does make sense especially when tied to the company's own in-house chip roadmap.

Apple's Vision Pro headset will finally go on sale on February 2 but that won't be the end of the company's new releases. We've been hearing about new tablets for a long time now, and a new report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman backs that up once more by suggesting that new iPad Air and iPad Pro models could be with us within the next few months.

Gurman believes that Apple will have its new tablets ready to go soon, with both models set to get refreshes as soon as March, although we might have to wait a little while longer with April also mentioned.

Starting with the iPad Air, it's been reported to date that the 11-inch iPad Air will be updated to include a new M2 chip and faster Wi-Fi, while there are also reports that a whole new 13-inch model will also be added to the mix. That would be the first time that the iPad Air would be offered in two different display sizes unlike the iPad Pro, but none of this has been confirmed by Apple as you might expect. The current iPad Air was announced in March of 2022 and it has the M1 chip inside, so it's definitely due an update.

If you buy an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pron Max today you'll have an array of different storage options from which to choose. The most capacious of them all is of course the 1TB model, but a new report suggests that Apple is getting ready to switch things up with this year's iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

According to a report by news aggregator account yeux1122 on the Naver blog, Apple is readying a new upgraded model of iPhone that will offer double the maximum storage available in Apple's best iPhones. The move would mean that Apple's iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max would make the move to a maximum capacity of 2TB rather than the current 1TB limit.

This is a rumor that follows a previous claim that Apple would start using new QLC NAND storage in its future iPhones, a move that would not only save physical space but also cost. That could be enough to make Apple choose 2TB as an option without making the costs too prohibitive. However, the downside is that such storage is slower when reading and writing data than the current TLC NAND used in iPhones today.

If you're an iPhone or Apple Watch users you can look forward to a new software update in the form of iOS 17.3 and watchOS 10.3, and they'll both be released to the public soon. Apple has been beta testing those releases with developers as well as those on the public beta program, and now we know that the company intends to make the same releases available to the public next week.

Apple confirmed the news in a press release detailing its 2024 Black Unity bands and wallpapers, with the company confirming that its new Black Unity Sport Band will ship on January 23. Apple confirmed that it will also release iOS 17.3, and watchOS 10.3 next week without confirming exactly when that would be, but we can likely expect it on Monday, January 22 to ensure the software is available before the new band is.

The iOS 17.3 software update will bring with it Stolen Device Protection, a new feature designed to lock down specific capabilities and functions even if someone steals your unlocked iPhone. The update will also add support for Apple Music collaborative playlists after it was removed in a previous iOS 17.2 beta.

If you're already casting your eye forward and waiting for Apple to announce the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, you aren't alone. There ar plenty of iPhone owners who skipped the iPhone 15 Pro models with an eye to what will come next, but there's some bad news if you're also someone who likes to get as much storage as possible after it was claimed that the 1TB model will be slower than normal. And the reason is a strange one.

While the 1TB iPhone 16 Pro will have the same A18 Pro chip inside - assuming previous reports and leaks are correct, of course - that particular model could be slower than those with less storage. That's according to a new DigiTimes report which claims that Apple will potentially switch that model to Wuad-Level Cell (QLC) NAND flash memory. Such memory is cheaper than the Triple-Level Cell (TLC) NAND memory that is currently used in Apple's 1TB models.

The move to the different memory type will not only make the chips cheaper but also smaller which will likely help with the limited space available in the iPhone 16 Pro. It's also possible that the switch could open the door to a future 2TB model, too.

Podcasting has gone through something of a golden era thanks in part to the incredible success of shows like This American Life and Serial. The COVID-19 pandemic saw listener numbers boom as well, all thanks to global lockdowns that saw people seeking ways to fill the time. But since then we've seen reports of slowing advertising demand and smaller fees, and things look likely to get worse. Not because the podcasts have changed, nor because advertisers aren't as interested in podcasts as a whole. It's because podcasts around the world have seen their episode download figures plummet, and it turns out they were never right in the first place.

That's following the news that one simple change made in iOS 17 has had a profound impact on the number of episode downloads globally, but it isn't a bug nor is it something that Apple broke as such. It was intentional, and it's better. But it also means that the download figures podcast companies are now receiving are more accurate. And they're much, much smaller.

Semafor reports that prior to the release of iOS 17 Apple's Podcasts app would automatically download all new episodes of any podcast that a user was subscribed to. That meant that if someone subscribed to a podcast three years ago but only ever listened to one episode, their automatic downloads would have counted against download figures regardless. That, multiplied by the millions of iPhone owners, makes for quite the figure of episodes that simply were never being listened to but were being counted. What's more, anyone who started listening again would see all of the prior episodes automatically downloaded which again meant they were counted - whether they were ever heard, or not.

Apple has a long history of being very much convinced that the only way people should be allowed to install apps on their iPhone is via the App Store. Web apps are also allowed, but real iPhones apps can only be downloaded via the App Store. Over on Android, apps can be sideloaded from just about anywhere with third-party app stores also available to companies who want to run them. Now, it appears Apple is closer than ever to allowing the same thing on the iPhone - but it isn't quite that simple.

With the European Union's Digital Markets Act set to force Apple to allow sideloading, the company is gearing up to do exactly that. However, reports suggest that anyone who had hoped Apple would open the door to all iPhone owners around the globe will be left disappointed. Instead, it looks likely that Apple will only offer sideloading to those in the EU, meaning iPhone owners in countries around the globe will have to make do with the App Store instead.

That's something that Bloomberg's Mark Gurman believes, reporting in his weekly Power On newsletter that Apple will split the App Store in two. ONe version will be offered in EU countries, while the other will be used everywhere else.