Apple has again extended its Apple Card COVID-19 Customer Assistance Program by a month, which will allow cardholders who apply for aid to defer their August payments without incurring interest charges.
Enrolling in the program can be done by opening up the Wallet app on the iPhone or iPad, tapping on Apple Card, tapping on the black circle with three dots, tapping on the message bubble, and then sending a message that states "I want to enroll in the Customer Assistance Program."
Confirmation of enrollment is sent to the email address associated with an Apple ID. Apple Card purchases will need to be paid off in the future, but the balance does not accrue interest when participating in the program.
Apple has been offering the Apple Card COVID-19 Customer Assistance Program since March, and has extended it each month as the coronavirus continues to impact Apple Card customers.
Apple sends emails about the Customer Assistance Program when sending monthly statement balances. There's a support document with details, but it has not yet been updated with the August extension.
Another busy week of Apple news and rumors has wrapped up, with a lot of focus on Tim Cook's appearance at a Congressional antitrust hearing and a blockbuster earnings report.
We continued to hear rumors about the upcoming iPhone 12 lineup, including a rare admission from Apple that the lineup will launch "a few weeks later" than usual. We also put together some scaled images that will let you see how small the new 5.4-inch screen size will seem for those considering Apple's upcoming compact flagship iPhone option.
Read on below and check out our video above for details on these stories and more from the past week!
Just How Small Will the 5.4-Inch iPhone 12 Screen Be? Try It Out for Yourself
Apple's iPhone 12 lineup coming later this year is strongly rumored to include a new smaller model with a 5.4-inch display that will result in the most compact overall device size in many years.
But for users on any of Apple's more recent flagship phones, will that screen size be too tiny to consider? We decided to find out and created scaled images of what the iPhone home screen will look like on the smaller screen so you can try it out for yourself using your current phone!
In other iPhone 12 news and rumors this week, we saw leaked photos of the alleged 5.4-inch displays and the RAM portion of the main A14 chip that will power the iPhone 12 models.
Apple also announced a four-for-one stock split that will take place at the end of the month, bringing the company's share price down to around $100 after it broke through the $400 mark following the earnings report.
Apple CEO Tim Cook Testifies in U.S. Antitrust Hearing
While Cook was spared some of the grilling focused on the other executives, he still faced a number of questions about Apple's policies and actions while documents released as part of the hearing revealed additional tidbits.
During the hearing, Cook argued that Apple treats App Store developers fairly and that there is an abundance of options in a "street fight for market share in the smartphone business." He was also questioned about parental control apps and Apple's Screen Time feature, as well as the recent "Hey" email app controversy.
In other documents shared by the committee, it was revealed that Apple back in 2011 considered increasing its commission on some subscription apps to 40% from the usual 30%, while in 2016 Apple considered halving its commission for Amazon in order to get an Amazon Prime Video app on the App Store.
Battery Likely for Upcoming MacBook Air Spotted in Certification Listings
We're expecting the MacBook Air to be one of the first Macs to make the transition from Intel processors to Apple Silicon later this year, and regulatory certifications for a new battery that looks to be for the MacBook Air have recently appeared online.
We don't know the timing of a release for the MacBook Air, but the Apple Silicon version is expected before the end of the year. Meanwhile, leaker Jon Prosser says an updated iMac should launch in August, attempting to tamp down some rumors from last weekend that a debut was imminent.
Apple Patent Suggests Two iPads Could Be Connected Together for Notebook-Style Computing
A pair of patents revealed this week shed some light on some interesting work Apple is doing, but it's hard to say whether any of the technology will make its way into future products. The first patent covers a dock accessory that would let two tablet devices like iPads be connected together to operate similarly to a notebook computer.
The second involves headphones that use a hybrid audio system that combines traditional air-based audio transmission with bone conduction, avoiding some of the drawbacks of regular bone conduction audio implementations.
macOS Catalina 10.15.6 appears to have a significant bug affecting virtualization software like VMware and VirtualBox. The bug results in repeated crashes when trying to run virtual machines and it looks like it will require a fix from Apple to address it.
In the meantime, users are urged to avoid upgrading to 10.15.6, or at least shut down virtual machines when not in use and reboot frequently to try to avoid the crashes.
Slack developer Felix Rieseberg transformed an entire 1991 Macintosh Quadra with Mac OS 8.1 into a single Electron app, including several apps and games from a 1997 demo CD.
MacRumors Newsletter
Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.
Certification for a 1.17Wh battery with a capacity of 303.8mAh was issued on June 23 by the KTR, a Korean regulatory body that approves and tests new hardware ahead of public sale.
The battery seems to be destined for a future Apple Watch, given the shape, capacity, and model number of A2327. The current Apple Watch Series 5 has a 296mAh battery, a similar model number of A2181, and is visually identical. The battery is also listed in the filing as for "fitness," which would be an appropriate categorization for Apple Watch.
A larger 303.8mAh in a new Apple Watch would offer a larger capacity than in previous generations. This could be facilitated by the removal of the Force Touch technology layer, which was made defunct in WatchOS 7. Without this component in future Apple Watches, internal space could be made available for a slightly larger battery.
Apple claims that Apple Watch Series 5 offers an 18 hour battery life, but since this new battery is only slightly larger, it would be unlikely for the Series 6 battery life to be considerably better. Any significant battery life improvements would be more likely to come from improved power efficiency rather than a larger battery.
Earlier this week, it was rumored that Apple Watch Series 6 could feature blood oxygen monitoring, which could consume more power and account for the need for a larger battery.
Apple Watch Series 6 models are expected for a fall launch, and are rumored to feature faster performance, better water resistance, and improved wireless transmission for faster Wi-Fi and cellular speeds.
President Trump plans to ban TikTok from the United States, NBC News reports.
Aboard Air Force One on Friday night, Trump reportedly said "As far as TikTok is concerned we're banning them from the United States." He described the action as a "severance" and said that an executive order enforcing the ban could be signed as soon as today. "I have that authority," he said.
In recent weeks, the White House has increasingly raised concerns over the popular short-form video app due to its ownership by ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese owner. Chinese law can compel any domestic company to hand over all collected user data. TikTok tracks user location information and user metadata, and has aroused concerns about privacy and censorship.
TikTok has repeatedly claimed that it is independent, not subject to Chinese government data requests or under Chinese influence, but on Wednesday a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin, suggested China views TikTok as a domestic company.
A TikTok spokesperson said that its largest investors come from the U.S. and the platform is a job creator committed to the privacy and safety of its 100 million American users.
"We've hired nearly 1,000 people to our US team this year alone, and are proud to be hiring another 10,000 employees into great paying jobs across the U.S.," the spokesperson said. "Our $1 billion creator fund supports U.S. creators who are building livelihoods from our platform... TikTok U.S. user data is stored in the U.S., with strict controls on employee access."
It has been rumored that Microsoft is in talks to acquire the app from ByteDance. Though ByteDance is in talks with a number of companies for a possible sale, Microsoft seems to be the leading candidate. Trump said he does not support a deal between ByteDance and Microsoft. ByteDance is reportedly seeking to retain a small stake in TikTok in any deal. Microsoft and TikTok declined to comment to NBC News about the negotiations.
Earlier this month, Larry Kudlow, Trump's top economic adviser, said he had been informed the eventual buyer of TikTok "will be a one hundred percent American company." The American Civil Liberties Union said Trump's plan to ban the app was "a danger to free expression."
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