AirPods Pro Shipments Likely to Equal AirPods 2 Shipments By End of 2020

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Shipments of Apple's higher-end AirPods Pro wireless earbuds are expected to equal those of its second-generation AirPods by the end of the year, according to industry sources (via DigiTimes).

Pictured: ‌AirPods‌ 2 (left) and ‌AirPods Pro‌

Apple's shipments for ‌AirPods Pro‌ have been growing steadily since its launch in October 2019, likely to equal those of ‌AirPods‌ 2 by the end of 2020, an encouraging development for SiP substrate suppliers including Taiwan's Nan Ya PCB and Korean makers, the sources said. SiP is likely to become the mainstream technology for ‌AirPods‌, the sources continued.

Seven months after launching updated ‌AirPods‌, Apple unveiled ‌AirPods Pro‌, featuring an all-new in-ear design and several improvements over the regular ‌AirPods‌, including active noise cancellation, improved sound quality, and water and sweat resistance.

• AirPods vs. AirPods Pro: Features Compared

Those new features inevitably came with an additional cost, with ‌AirPods Pro‌ priced at $249, compared to second-generation ‌AirPods‌ starting at $159. That hasn't put off consumers, however. Indeed, Apple accounted for nearly half of all sales of true wireless earbuds in 2019, and those sales are expected to grow to 82 million units this year, according to Counterpoint Research.

According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who often reliably predicts Apple's product plans, Apple is working on a second-generation version of the ‌‌AirPods Pro‌‌ that will go into mass production into the fourth quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2022, suggesting no ‌‌AirPods Pro‌‌ refresh in 2020 or early 2021.

Kuo has also said that Apple is working on a third-generation version of its lower-end ‌‌AirPods‌‌, for a planned rollout in the first half of 2021. The new ‌AirPods‌ are expected to feature a form factor design similar to ‌AirPods Pro‌, thanks to a more compact system-in-package (SiP) that allows the audio features to be integrated into a more compact casing.

In the meantime, existing ‌AirPods‌ 2 and ‌AirPods Pro‌ owners have more to look forward to with the official release of iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur, when ‌AirPods‌ 2 and ‌AirPods Pro‌ will gain an automatic switching function between Apple devices. For example, if you finish a phone call on your iPhone and pick up your iPad to watch a movie, the ‌AirPods‌ will automatically switch over.

• When Will iOS 14 Be Released?

‌AirPods Pro‌ are also getting a new "spatial audio" feature that promises to deliver a theater-like surround sound experience wherever you are. Apple says spatial audio with dynamic head tracking puts surround sound channels in exactly the right place, even as you turn your head or move your device. This feature will require an ‌iPhone‌ 7 or newer.

Related Roundups: AirPods 2, AirPods Pro

Buyer's Guide: AirPods (Neutral), AirPods Pro (Buy Now)

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Russian Lawmaker Seeks to Cap Apple's App Store Commission at 20%

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Draft legislation submitted in Russia this week could see Apple's App Store commission cut by a third if it is ratified by the country's parliament.


Reuters reports that the bill requires that commissions on the sale of apps by Apple and Google be capped at 20%. Apple has a long-standing policy of collecting 30% commission on all sales (including in-app purchases) in the App store.

The bill, submitted to Russia's lower house of parliament by lawmaker Fedot Tumusov, stipulates that commissions on the sale of applications be capped at 20%.

The bill, if adopted, would also oblige app sellers to pay a third of their commissions to a special training fund for IT specialists on a quarterly basis.

According to a Russian-language Kommersant report, which has been shared by Tumusov on Twitter, the bill also proposes to oblige owners of mobile operating systems to allow users to install alternative stores. This would be especially problematic for Apple, since the ‌App Store‌ is the only official source for apps on its mobile devices.

Apple has been involved in a number of ‌‌App Store‌‌ controversies in recent months, from the Hey email app rejection to its battle with Epic Games. Regulators have also been taking a look at Apple's policies regarding ‌‌App Store‌‌ commissions and exclusive control over app distribution.

Apple is already facing ‌App Store‌ scrutiny in Russia since the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) concluded that Apple abused its dominant ‌‌App Store‌‌ position and limited competition in the iOS app market by banning parental control apps. Apple said at the time that it would appeal the decision.

Tags: App Store, Russia

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ZTE Launches World's First Phone With Under-Screen Selfie Camera

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After teasing its fullscreen display-enabling technology for a while, Chinese mobile maker ZTE has officially launched the first commercial phone featuring an under-screen front-facing camera.


The Axon 20 5G eschews a hole punch or notch solution for its 32-megapixel selfie camera, and instead hides it underneath its 6.9-inch 90Hz OLED display, which is surrounded by minimal bezels on all four sides.

According to ZTE, the area around the camera looks just as bright and vivid as the rest of the screen. The company says it has achieved this using a high transparency material that features organic and inorganic films.

Putting a camera under the screen makes it harder to match the quality of an unobstructed smartphone camera, so to compensate ZTE has developed software algorithms that address haze, glare, and color cast issues in photos.

The company also referred to "color synchronization" between the camera and the display, which sounds as if it captures images between the screen's PWM flicker. (PWM flicker is a way of controlling screen brightness by adding some breaks without light emittance.)

The phone also features an under-display fingerprint sensor and an under-screen speaker system. Elsewhere, on the rear, there's a 64-megapixel camera backed by an 8-megapixel ultrawide lens with 2-megapixel depth and macro sensors.

The Axon 20 5G will be available to order in China from September 10 at a cost of about $320, but it's unclear if it will become available internationally.


This isn't the first time we've seen a Chinese company unveil a solution to the ubiquitous smartphone display notch. Oppo teased its own under-screen camera prototype way back in June 2019, but the technology has yet to appear in a consumer Oppo phone.

Apple is thought to be working towards a notchless iPhone design. The notch has been a controversial design decision since it debuted on the ‌‌iPhone‌‌ X in 2017, and it has always felt like a stopgap on the way to an ‌‌iPhone‌‌ with a truly edge-to-edge display, but when that will appear remains unknown.

Apple's 2020 ‌iPhone‌ lineup is widely expected to include an enhanced triple rear camera system, with at least one high-end model featuring an additional LiDAR camera for 3D mapping. The display notch, which houses Apple's TrueDepth camera and Face ID tech, will almost certainly remain, although there have been conflicting rumors regarding whether the notch will be smaller or the same size as on previous models.

Tag: ZTE

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