Tech Talk

Apple services chief Eddy Cue has effectively ruled out the company's rumored bid to obtain the broadcasting rights to the English Premier League for Apple TV+ . Apple has reportedly been interested in obtaining the rights to broadcast the Premier League as far back as 2012 . Earlier this year, Bloomberg highlighted Apple's consideration of a bid for the rights to stream the Premier League, among other lower league matches run by the English Football League, for ‌Apple TV+‌. ‌Eddy Cue‌ has now effectively ruled out Apple's intention to make a bid on the basis that it would be unable to obtain global rights. The company sought a deal similar to its rights to broadcast Major League Soccer (MLS) worldwide for a period of ten years, an arrangement hailed as a "historic first for a major professional sports league." Speaking to The Daily Mail , Cue explained Apple's rationale: I don't like the word exclusivity because that's important but not as imp

Apple has asked its suppliers to develop "bezelless" OLED display panels for future iPhone models, The Elec reports. iPhone 15 Pro Max dummy model with thinner bezels compared to an iPhone 14 Pro Max, via Unbox Therapy . Apple apparently asked Samsung and LG Display to develop the new OLED display panels, intending to implement them while maintaining the ‌iPhone‌'s current design, in contrast to the curved displays that some smartphone brands with ultra-slim bezels offer. Apple is reportedly reluctant to implement a display that curves over the side of the ‌iPhone‌ due to concerns about optical distortion and durability. Apple purportedly wants the bezelless displays to facilitate improved thin film encapsulation (TFE) and under-panel camera (UPC) technology, as well as increase space for components like antennas while reducing interference. Retaining a design with a flat display reportedly enables these improvements, where they would otherwise currently be impo

Spotify is increasing its Premium plan to $10.99 per month, up from $9.99, the company has announced. The price hike applies to users in the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and several other regions and territories. "So that we can keep innovating, we are changing our Premium prices across a number of markets around the world," the company said in a post announcing the changes . "These updates will help us continue to deliver value to fans and artists on our platform." In addition to increasing the Premium subscription price, the cost of the Duo plan is set to increase from $12.99 to $14.99, the Family plan will increase from $15.99 to $16.99, and the Student plan will increase from $4.99 to $5.99. Spotify said existing subscribers in affected markets would receive an email explaining what this means for their account. Existing subscribers will get a one month grace period before the new pricing takes effect, according to a company FAQ

Apple is "considering" raising the price for both Pro models in its upcoming iPhone 15 series, according to Bloomberg . Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, the report claims that despite a projected decline in the overall smartphone market, Apple plans to increase its overall revenue by raising the price of the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. This isn't the first time we've heard suggestions that Apple could hike the price of its forthcoming Pro models. A rumor in May claimed that since the ‌iPhone 15‌ and ‌iPhone 15‌ Plus will gain a number of features currently exclusive to the Pro models, such as Dynamic Island and the 48-megapixel camera, Apple sees even more of a need to separate the Pro and non-Pro devices in terms of pricing this year. The price increase was also predicted in March by Jeff Pu, a tech analyst at Hong Kong-based investment firm Haitong International Securities. The iPhone 14 Pro and ‌iPhone 14 Pro‌ Max start at $999 an

Twitter has rebranded as " X " worldwide, under the direction of owner Elon Musk . An "interim" logo featuring a white X on a black background has replaced the original blue bird logo on the platform, signaling the billionaire's intention to transform the social media network into an "everything app" similar to China's WeChat. Musk on Sunday changed his profile picture to the new logo and added to his bio "X.com," which redirects to a brief "X" splash screen on Twitter's homepage. In a tweet on Monday morning, Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino said "X is here! Let's do this." Musk later shared an image of the new X branding projected onto the side of Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco. Twitter's official legal entity name was registered as X Corp when the company was acquired by Musk, who has since been referring to it as "X" or "an accelerant to creating X," but the customer-fa

Apple retail store staff will soon be able to offer customers home delivery during the ordering process, rather than having to carry purchased products home themselves. Writing in his latest Power On newsletter , Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman reports that the EasyPay machines Apple salespeople use when processing in-store product purchases are set to include an option for home shipping for the first time. Not only will the new option make it more convenient for shoppers buying bulky products like an iMac or Mac Pro , it also means that if an item is out of stock, the store can still book the sale and avoid situations where customers leave empty-handed to look elsewhere. Currently, Apple store staff are only able to help customers order larger or out-of-stock products online via Apple's website using a shop floor demo Mac or iPad , or by going onto the web themselves using their EasyPay device. Gurman believes the new option could be effective in reducing the physical spac

The Mac mini and high-end MacBook Pro models will not be among the first wave of Macs to launch with the M3 chip later this year, according to Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman . In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that he believes "it's a sure thing that an ‌M3‌ version of the ‌Mac mini‌ is eventually coming," but it is not imminent or far into development. As such, he believes that the machine will not be in the first wave of ‌M3‌ Macs to be released in October. It is not expected emerge until late next year at the earliest. Likewise, new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models will not be among the first ‌M3‌ Macs later this year. These machines are expected to feature the ‌M3‌ Pro and ‌M3‌ Max chips and will "probably" launch by the middle of 2024 at the latest. He noted that the M2 ‌Mac mini‌ launched more than two years after the M1 version was introduced, suggesting that Apple does not see the ‌Mac mini‌ as a device