🔗 Apple Vision Pro will go global after WWDC 24

Apple Inc. is preparing to start selling the Vision Pro in markets outside the US, testing whether the $3,499 mixed-reality headset has broader appeal.

According to analyst Mark Gurman, the company has sent hundreds of employees from its retail stores in Germany, France, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and China to Cupertino for Apple Vision Pro sales training, indicating that sales will start soon in those countries.

Gurman believes sales will begin next month, sometime after WWDC.

The conference itself kicks off on June 10. Apple is expected to unveil visionOS 2 with new chips for Vision Pro.

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#VisionPro #WWDC

Apple is about in the details 🤩

When using Pencil Pro and Hover feature, iPad displays a virtual shadow of the selected tool, and it changes depending on the position, rotation, and angle of Pencil Pro!

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#applePencil

😁 Samsung didn't miss the opportunity to hype, releasing a 'Creativity cannot be crushed' commercial about its Galaxy S9 Tab, mocking the video introducing the new iPad Pro.

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#humor

💻 Touchscreen Macs: a dream or future reality

Apple has rejected the idea of making touchscreen Macs for over a decade now, but a recent remark by a senior company exec did appear to at least open the door to the possibility of a change.

“We don’t see them as competing devices. We see them as complementary devices,” Tom Boger, Apple’s vice president of iPad and Mac product marketing. The iPad, he said, “has always been a touch-first device” while the Mac is for “indirect manipulation”— aka using a keyboard, mouse and/or trackpad. But then added “I can’t say we never change our mind” …

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has already reported that Apple is actively developing touchscreen Macs. The company is reportedly targeting a release date for a MacBook Pro with a touchscreen in 2025.

The MacBook Pro revamp being tested inside Apple retains a “traditional laptop design” that includes a standard trackpad and keyboard. The difference, of course, is that the screen would “support touch input and gestures – just like an iPhone and iPad,” Gurman said.

Should Apple release a MacBook Pro with a touchscreen?

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#Macbook #rumors

Berlin Apple Store vandalized by Congo activists ❗️

Protesting the alleged exploitation of the Congo by tech firms including Apple, activists have spray-painted Berlin's Apple Rosenthaler Strasse store.

Earlier Apple has been accused of its supply chain using what are called conflict materials. The compony maintains that it has stopped using tin, tungsten, and tantalum mined in the region, and it has dropped suppliers who did.

Nonetheless, activists from Fridays For Future (FFF) have vandalized one of Apple's two stores in Berlin, specifically to draw attention to the company's alleged practices.

This protest follows the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo writing to Apple asking to prove that it is not using conflict materials in its devices. That's despite Apple having most recently ceased working with 12 suppliers for having reportedly flouted its Supplier Code of Conduct regarding the issue.

P.S. Berlin's Apple Rosenthaler Strasse store will continue its work on Tuesday.

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#applestore #AppleInc

📱Apple plans a thinner iPhone in 2025

The Information reported that Apple plans to release an all-new, high-end iPhone 17 model next year, and there was one detail that is worth singling out: the rear cameras could be relocated to the "top center" of the device.

The rear camera system on the iPhone has been positioned in the top-left corner of the device since the original 2007 model, so the cameras being moved to the top center of the device would be a notable change.

The report said the new iPhone 17 model will feature a "major redesign" akin to the iPhone X, so it sounds like Apple has big plans for this device. With the report claiming the device could have a higher price tag than the Pro Max model, which starts at $1,199, perhaps it will end up being the "iPhone Ultra" that has been rumored for a few years.

More details that the report mentioned:
• Between a 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch display (likely 6.5-inch)
• A "significantly thinner" design with an aluminum frame
• Rear cameras moved to "top center" of device
• A higher price tag than the Pro Max model in the iPhone lineup
• Improved front camera
• A narrower Dynamic Island
• A19 chip

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#iPhone #rumors

Today users of WATCH can get an Achievement and animated stickers for the first time due to the World Meditation Day 🧘

This requires a session of 5 minutes or more with the Mindfulness app on WATCH using 🌬 Breathe or 🧘‍♀️ Reflect.

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#appleWatch

🤫 AirTag 2 will be released in mid-2025

Apple is actively working on a new version of AirTag, codenamed B589, with a new chip and additional chips.

This correlates with data from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who reported last October that Apple had pushed back the tracker's release from late 2024 to 2025. Kuo also said that the AirTag 2 will have some sort of integration with Apple's Vision Pro headset, but didn't share more specific details.

What about your experience using AirTag?

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#AirTag #rumors