Apple TV will be breaking new ground this Saturday, May 23, by streaming a special live Major League Soccer match captured exclusively on iPhone 17 Pro.

The streamer is billing the production as "the first time that iPhones will be used to capture the entirety of a major professional live sporting event broadcast."

The milestone broadcast will feature the LA Galaxy vs. Houston Dynamo FC streaming live on Apple TV from Dignity Health Sports Park during the final weekend of MLS play before the regular season pauses for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

iPhone 17 Pro will capture live footage throughout the match, including team warmups on the pitch, player introductions, in-net goal angles, and the atmosphere inside the stadium. A total of 15 iPhones will be used in the production.

With iPhone cameras positioned throughout the venue, Apple reported that the broadcast will deliver the pristine video quality fans expect, alongside dynamic new perspectives that bring viewers closer to the action, made possible by the small form factor of iPhone.

The move to capture an match entirely on iPhones builds on extensive work by Apple TV in using the smartphones for production.

Apple TV first incorporated iPhone into a live sports broadcast workflow during a September 2025 “Friday Night Baseball” matchup between the Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers.

During that game it used iPhone 17 Pro to capture select moments from the game and cinematic in-stadium footage. The milestone production earned recognition from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, which added an iPhone used in the broadcast to its permanent collection.

iPhone 17 Pro features three 48MP Fusion cameras, offering the equivalent of eight lenses in a compact form factor and pro-level video features like Apple Log 2 used for this weekend’s broadcast.

Following strong fan response to the “Friday Night Baseball” production, Apple expanded the use of iPhone across additional sports broadcasts, including the MLS Cup in 2025. It then further integrated the technology into the regular production rotation for “Friday Night Baseball” and MLS broadcasts throughout the 2026 season.

This Saturday’s LA Galaxy vs. Houston Dynamo FC match marks the next leap forward: the first live professional sporting event captured entirely on iPhone. Fans can see the results by tune in to Apple TV at 7:30 p.m. PT to see iPhone 17 Pro in action.

Apple has announced a major upgrade to the Apple TV app for device owners outside the Apple ecosystem with news that the Apple TV app for Android now supports Google Cast.

The support means that subscribers to the streaming service can now stream their favorite entertainment from an Android phone directly to their TV.

The new feature allows Android phone owners to easily cast global hit Apple TV series like "Pluribus", award-winning comedies and dramas such as "Severance", "The Studio", "The Morning Show", and "Slow Horses".

User can also cast Apple Original Films’ summer blockbuster "F1 The Movie" and a wide range of live sports, including "Friday Night Baseball" doubleheaders, every Major League Soccer match, and Formula 1 races in the U.S.

To cast the content, user simply need to press play on a phone and tap the Cast icon.

New research indicates that Roku remains the top connected TV (CTV) streaming device in North America, with a 37% share of the open programmatic ads sold on specific devices in third-quarter 2024.

Samsung Smart TV (17% share), Amazon Fire TV (15%), Apple TV (11%), and LG (10.8%) round out the top-5 CTV platforms in North America.

The new Pixalate reports, which are broken down by region, also found Roku on top in Latin America with a 50% share of what Pixalate calls Market Share of Voice (SOV). SOV is calculated by the share of the open programmatic ads sold on specific devices.

Other key findings include:

• Roku leads in market share in Latin America with 50% SOV, followed by Samsung Smart TV (21%), LG (7%), Amazon Fire TV (3%), TCL (3%)
• Samsung Smart TV devices lead in EMEA with 30% SOV, followed by LG (16%), Amazon Fire TV (15%), TCL (12%), and Sony (6%)
• While Roku leads in market share in North America (37%), it saw a 29% decrease YoY.

For the report, Pixalate analyzed open programmatic advertising activity across more than 100,000 CTV apps and nearly 6 billion global open programmatic ad transactions in Q2 2024.

The full reports can be found here.

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Apple has rolled out four new versions of its iPhone: iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone Pro Max, featuring its new A18 chip and Apple Intelligence, the company’s personal intelligence system that it says “understands personal context to deliver intelligence that is helpful and relevant while protecting user privacy.”

The iPhone 16 lineup also introduces Camera Control, a tactile switch that features a capacitive sensor that allows users to launch the camera more quickly. A new camera preview feature helps users frame the shot and adjust other control options — such as zoom, exposure, or depth of field — by sliding their finger on the Camera Control. Additionally, developers will be able to bring Camera Control to third-party apps such as Snapchat.

Later this year, Camera Control will unlock visual intelligence to help users learn about objects and places. Camera Control will also serve as a gateway into third-party tools with specific domain expertise, like when users want to search on Google to find where they can buy an item, or to benefit from ChatGPT’s problem-solving skills.

All four versions sport the new 48MP Fusion camera, which features a faster quad-pixel sensor that enables 4K120 fps video recording in Dolby Vision, bringing the highest resolution and frame-rate combination ever available on iPhone, Apple said. Additional advancements include a new 48MP Ultra Wide camera for higher-resolution photography, including macro; a 5x Telephoto camera on both Pro models; and studio-quality mics to record more true-to-life audio.

In addition to wider-angle shots, the new 12MP Ultra Wide camera with autofocus enables macro photography. The Ultra Wide camera also gathers up to 2.6x more light for higher image quality. All four models now take spatial photos and videos for Apple Vision Pro.

The quad-pixel sensor on the Pro and Pro Max can read data 2x faster, enabling zero shutter lag for 48MP ProRAW or HEIF photos. A new 48MP Ultra Wide camera also features a quad-pixel sensor with autofocus, so users can take higher-resolution 48MP ProRAW and HEIF images when capturing uniquely framed, wider-angle shots or getting close to their subjects with macro photography. The powerful 5x Telephoto camera is now available on both iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

iPhone 16 features Apple’s latest-generation Ceramic Shield with an advanced formulation that it says is 50% tougher than the first generation and 2x tougher than glass on any other smartphone. The internal design of iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus has been reengineered to allow for an even larger battery and to better dissipate heat, while making battery service easier. With the new internal design and advanced power management of iOS 18, the batteries are optimized to offer a big boost in battery life, the company said.

The Pro and Pro Max versions sport the largest iPhone displays yet at 6.3 and 6.9-inch displays, respectively, with Super Retina XDR displays with Always-On and ProMotion technologies. iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are available in 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch OLED display sizes and also feature the Super Retina XDR display.

Apple Intelligence on the iPhone 16 lineup harnesses the power of Apple silicon and Apple-built generative models to understand and create language and images, take action across apps, and draw from personal context to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks. The company said Apple Intelligence “maintains the privacy and security of user data with Private Cloud Compute,” a “groundbreaking approach” that provides the ability to flex and scale computational capacity between on-device processing and larger, server-based models that run on dedicated Apple silicon servers.

Apple Intelligence will be available as a free software update, with the first set of features rolling out next month in U.S. English for most regions around the world.

Siri has also been upgraded with a new design that adds a glowing light that wraps around the edge of the screen when active. It features richer language-understanding capabilities, and can follow along even when users stumble over their words, and maintains context from one request to the next. Users can type to Siri at any time, and switch fluidly between text and voice.

iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will be available in ultramarine, teal, pink, white, and black in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage capacities. iPhone 16 starts at $799 (U.S.) or $33.29 (U.S.) per month, and iPhone 16 Plus starts at $899 (U.S.)

iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be available in black titanium, natural titanium, white titanium, and desert titanium, in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage capacities. iPhone 16 Pro starts at $999 (U.S.), and iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,199 (U.S.).

Pre-orders for all four models begin Friday Sept. 13 with availability beginning Friday Sept. 20.

Check out the launch date hands-on review from TV Tech sister brand Toms Guide.

CUPERTINO, Calif.—In a notable development for news and live video production, Apple has unveiled a number of significant upgrades to its Final Cut Pro software that includes Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 that transforms iPad into a live multicam production studio. 

Along with the announcement of a new M4 chips and the new iPad Pro, Apple said that Final Cut Pro for iPad 2  gives users the power to speed up their shoot by allowing them to connect and preview up to four cameras all at once, all in one place. 

To support Live Multicam, Apple also launched Final Cut Camera—an all-new video capture app—for iPhone and iPad that lets creators wirelessly connect and remotely direct each video angle with powerful pro controls. 

Apple reported that Final Cut Camera also works as a standalone professional video capture app on iPhone and iPad. External project support gives users the flexibility to edit projects directly from an external drive, leveraging the fast Thunderbolt connection of iPad Pro. Editing and finishing a project with Final Cut Pro on the new iPad Pro with the M4 chip is incredible, enabling users to color grade, apply multiple effects, and render graphically intense timelines even faster. Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 has even more customizable content for editing and creating unique projects, and leverages the advanced features of the all-new Apple Pencil Pro such as barrel roll and squeeze for Live Drawing.

“Users have been loving the portability and flexibility of editing with Final Cut Pro for iPad. It was designed from the ground up to take advantage of everything iPad has to offer, and that continues with the latest advances like Apple Pencil Pro and the M4 chip,” said Brent Chiu-Watson, Apple’s senior director of Apps Worldwide Product Marketing. “Now, Final Cut Pro for iPad is getting even more powerful, transforming production workflows for creators by putting iPad at the center and allowing them to edit and share more quickly than ever, whether they’re at the studio or on the go. Final Cut Pro for Mac also continues to deliver efficiency gains for editors with new features that are smarter and faster.”

Apple also announced new artificial intelligence features are coming to Final Cut Pro for Mac 10.8, giving editors the ability to rapidly customize the look of videos or photos in a single click and retime visuals more easily than ever. Important workflow-accelerating tools bring new ways to manage color correction and video effects, as well as search and navigate the timeline with ease, the company said. 

The updates build on a powerful new M4 chip and new versions of the Apple iPad Pro. With M4 on the new iPad Pro, final rendering is up to 2x faster, and editors can take advantage of support for up to 4x more streams of ProRes RAW than with M1, Apple said. 

Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 also delivers Live Multicam, an innovative new solution for users to capture up to four different angles of a single scene, whether working with their own devices or collaborating with others. Live Multicam connects wirelessly via Final Cut Camera, a new video capture app, enabling users to view up to four iPhone or iPad devices and providing a director’s view of each camera in real time. Each live camera feed can have settings adjusted right from Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 to easily dial in exposure, focus, zoom, and more for the perfect shot. Editable preview clips are immediately passed through to Final Cut Pro for iPad and replaced with full-resolution files in the background, so users can seamlessly move from production to editing.

To support Live Multicam in Final Cut Pro for iPad 2, Final Cut Camera becomes available on iPhone and iPad, providing users with live monitoring and individual control of each video feed. Leveraging the camera systems on iPhone and iPad, Final Cut Camera allows users to adjust settings like white balance and manual focus, while monitoring their recordings with zebras and audio meters. Users can now also adjust ISO and shutter speed, and enable focus peaking, bringing even more power to the camera system on iPad Air and iPad Pro. Final Cut Camera can also be downloaded for free as a standalone video capture app to record professional videos on iPhone and iPad with precise manual controls.

For even more storage flexibility, Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 now supports external projects, letting users easily create or open projects on an external storage device and import media without taking up space on their iPad. Editors can quickly hand off external projects to another editor or take them into Final Cut Pro for Mac; create new projects on external storage; and seamlessly import high-resolution files and professional codecs like ProRes and Log.

Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 also brings more options to customize projects. Users can dial in their edits with 12 new color-grading presets, choose from eight basic text titles, score with 20 new soundtracks, and add additional dynamic backgrounds to create effect overlays and title sequences, Apple reported. 

Apple also announced improvements to Final Cut on the Mac that allow editors to take their professional workflow to the next level by leverage the Neural Engine in Apple silicon, new AI features and organizational tools on Final Cut Pro 10.8. Available as a free update to existing users, Final Cut Pro 10.8 introduces Enhance Light and Color, offering the ability to improve color, color balance, contrast, and brightness in one simple step, and is optimized for SDR, HDR, RAW, and Log-encoded media. With Smooth Slo-Mo, frames of video are intelligently generated and blended together, providing the highest-quality movement and more drama to a project.

For efficiency in post-production workflows, color corrections and video effects can now be given custom names in the inspector to easily identify changes applied to a clip, and effects can be dragged from the inspector to other clips in the timeline or viewer. The timeline index also offers the ability to search for and navigate to clips with missing media or effects. And text-based timeline search now includes important information like reel, scene, camera angle, and more.

Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 will be available later this spring as a free update for existing users, and available on the App Store® for $4.99 (U.S.) per month or $49 (U.S.) per year, with a one-month free trial for new users.

Final Cut Camera will be available for free later this spring as a standalone app.

Final Cut Pro for Mac 10.8 will be available as a free update for existing users and for $299.99 (U.S.) for new users on the Mac App Store. All new users can download a free 90-day trial of Final Cut Pro.

Apple also introduced the new iPad Pro in a stunningly thin and light design, in 11-inch and 13-inch models at prices that start at $999.99.

Both sizes feature the new Ultra Retina XDR display with state-of-the-art tandem OLED technology and the new M4 chip, the next generation of Apple silicon, which delivers a huge leap in performance and capabilities. 

M4 features an entirely new display engine to enable the precision, color, and brightness of the Ultra Retina XDR display. With a new CPU, a next-generation GPU that builds upon the GPU architecture debuted on M3, and the most powerful Neural Engine yet, Apple said. 

“iPad Pro empowers a broad set of pros and is perfect for anyone who wants the ultimate iPad experience — with its combination of the world’s best displays, extraordinary performance of our latest M-series chips, and advanced accessories — all in a portable design. Today, we’re taking it even further with the new, stunningly thin and light iPad Pro, our biggest update ever to iPad Pro,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. “With the breakthrough Ultra Retina XDR display, the next-level performance of M4, incredible AI capabilities, and support for the all-new Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard, there’s no device like the new iPad Pro.”

More information is available at https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-ipad/ipad-pro. 

NEEDHAM, Mass.—After more than two years of decline, worldwide tablet shipments posted modest year-over-year growth of 0.5% in the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24), totaling 30.8 million units, according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. 

The IDC reported that the last time the market recorded growth was in the second quarter of 2021, after which shipments began to slow due to saturation. 

While macroeconomic issues persist, the researchers said, the rebound in shipments this quarter was driven by the start of a refresh cycle. Although long-term volumes are unlikely to match the surge seen during the pandemic, the shift towards premium tablets is a silver lining for the industry as consumers seek productivity-oriented devices.

"The tablet market started showing signs of recovery in the first quarter. The real gains will come from the next refresh cycle, followed by growth within commercial segments as more tablets are used in the education sector and the gig economy," said Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. "However, these factors won't suffice as the attrition driven by competition from PCs and smartphones will contribute to a lackluster outlook for the tablet market. That said, there is potential upside driven by AI capabilities similar to what's expected in other device types."

In terms of individual companies, IDC reported that Apple faced a bit of a lull last year due to the poor economy and the absence of new models and declined 8.5% year over year. The company has focused on clearing out inventory of older models prior to the expected launch of new models in 2Q24. Apple managed to hold the number 1 position with 9.9 million units shipped in 1Q24.

Samsung ranked second with shipments of 6.7 million units in 1Q24, which was a year-over-year decline of 5.8%. Promotions from competing brands in Europe and Asia/Pacific and the lack of new products held back Samsung's growth. However, the company is focused on improving its user experience by including AI capabilities in its latest products and focusing on premium products to capitalize on this year's replacement cycle, the study noted. 

Huawei retained the third position this quarter with year-over-year growth of 43.6% and shipments of 2.9 million units. The Chinese tech giant likely benefitted from the resurgence of its smartphone business and managed to grow its market share by 2.8 basis points compared to 1Q23.

Lenovo ranked fourth this quarter with year-over-year growth of 13.2%. Like many other vendors, Lenovo has been able to grow its detachable portfolio since the pandemic, with its Tab P series models driving shipments. However, slate tablets still represent nearly 80% of Lenovo's shipments.

Xiaomi retained its spot in the top 5 with impressive growth of 92.6% year over year and shipments reaching 1.8 million units. Outside of China, which is its largest market, Xiaomi grew by triple digits across almost all regions where it ships, the IDC found. 

PARIS—Ateme, a provider of video compression, delivery, and streaming solutions, will be at the 2024 NAB Show, highlighting new developments in its ad insertion platform. 

Specifically the company will focus on how its Server Side Ad Insertion solution now supports the latest Apple HLS Intersitials specification. This development of the Ateme NEA solution for targeted advertising ensures a superior viewing experience while enabling content and service providers to increase revenue streams through wider reach and more effective ad targeting, the company said.

Implemented initially for a leading content and service provider in Europe, the solution is one of the first SSAI solutions in the market to include support for HLS Interstitials Ateme said, offering seamless transitions from content to ads and back to content, despite differences in codec parameters and audio tracks; the ability to enhance or restrict player control actions during ad breaks as well as the ability to reverse or change inserted ads after initial decisions. Ateme says its “stronger technical solution” will be more resiliet to ad-break conditioning and segment boundaries in the HLS manifest.

"Content and service providers are struggling to find new ways to increase their revenue,” said Ahmed Swidan, Director of Personalized TV at Ateme. “One way to achieve this is to reach more viewers, on more devices, with the best ad-insertion techniques. The latest HLS Interstitials specification from Apple enables a wider reach, while also introducing advanced functionalities for ad-break replacement logic and making the system more resilient. We are thrilled to be among the first vendors to implement this standard, helping the media industry reach its full monetization potential."

Ateme will discuss the latest advances to its SSAI solution at Booth W1721 in the West Hall of the LVCC during the 2024 NAB Show in Las Vegas,  April 14-17.

Apple announced today that its Apple Vision Pro VR system will start shipping on Feb. 2, with pre-orders starting on Friday, Jan. 19 at 5 a.m. PST. The Apple Vision Pro, which was announced to great fanfare (and an equal amount of skepticism) will set you back $3,499 (U.S.) with 256GB of storage. Apple Vision Pro will be available at all U.S. Apple Store locations and the U.S. Apple Store online.

Apple Vision Pro comes with a Solo Knit Band and Dual Loop Band — giving users two options for the fit that works best for them. Apple Vision Pro also includes a Light Seal, two Light Seal Cushions, an Apple Vision Pro Cover for the front of the device, Polishing Cloth, Battery, USB-C Charge Cable, and USB-C Power Adapter. ZEISS Optical Inserts — Readers will be available for $99 (U.S.), and ZEISS Optical Inserts — Prescription will be available for $149 (U.S.).

TV Tech writer Phil Rhodes took an in-depth look at the display technology behind Apple Vision Pro last summer and TV Tech sister brand Tech Radar recently got a sneak preview of Apple’s spatial video technology.  

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Apple is following in the footsteps of other major streaming service providers by dramatically increasing the subscription price of its streaming service. 

In the U.S. the monthly sub fee for new and existing subs has jumped from $6.99 to $9.99. The annual price has also increased from $69 to $99. 

The company also is imposing price hikes on Apple Arcade, which is increasing in price from $4.99 per month to $6.99 per month in the U.S. and Apple News+, which is going from $9.99 per month to $12.99 per month in the U.S. 

Apple launched Apple TV+ service at $4.99 a month in 2019 and increased it to $6.99 in October of 2022. 

The move comes as Netflix, Disney and others have announced price increases to improve the service’s finances and to boost ad revenues by pushing less affluent users into their lower cost ad-supported tiers. 

Apple is the only one of the major streaming players who does not as yet have an ad-supported option. 

Interest in the new Apple Vision Pro headset with what the company describes as an “infinite canvas for apps” and a fully 3D user interface appears to be strong despite its $3,500 price tag, according to newly released research. 

An examination of online searches in June by Casinoarabi.io reveals a lot of curiosity about the device, which the company has dubbed “the first spatial computer.” The researcher looked at the volume of online searches in June for terms like “Apple Vision Pro,” “Apple VR price” and other related terms. 

To put the findings into context, the researcher tallied searches in terms of 100,000 state residents.

California topped the list, with 1,636 searches per 100,000 residents, followed by: Washington with 1,613 per 100,000; Utah with 1,508; Massachusetts, 1,483; New York, 1,448; Colorado, 1,424; Oregon, 1,314; Nevada, 1,202; Virginia, 1,200; and Texas, 1,188, according to the study. 

“The Apple Vision Pro announcement was tentatively received by much of the world as a seemingly dystopian technology becoming ever more realistic. Regardless, it will be fascinating to find out whether such interest will be converted into sales when the Apple Vision Pro is released early next year,” a Casinoarabi.io spokesperson said.

Apple announced the new headset June 5. The company expects to release it to the public early next year.

NEW YORK—While the augmented reality/virtual reality headset market has struggled in recent years to gain traction with consumers, a new analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence argues that Apple’s entry into the business should help the sector see strong growth in upcoming years.   

S&P Global Market Intelligence is predicting that augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) headset shipments are expected to increase from 7.9 million in 2022 to 21.4 million in 2027, a 22.1% compound annual growth rate (CAGR).

“The AR/VR hardware segment found a relatively low ceiling as an extension of the video game market after an initial surge in 2016 and 2017,” said Neil Barbour, associate research analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence. “But a wave of new headsets hopes to find a broader market by emphasizing other popular computing tasks, such as video conferencing, web browsing and media playback. The core value proposition is that AR/VR headsets can merge the portability of a smartphone with the expansive workspace of a multimonitor setup. This marketing message is being championed by Apple, which has a solid track record in emerging hardware segments.”

The analysis also argues that AR/VR headsets will start to develop into a relatively approachable computing platform over the next five years as advanced pass-through cameras and a focus on productivity and communication software opens the technology to a wider array of consumer personas.

The AR/VR market's next push into the mainstream will be spearheaded by Apple, which said it will start selling the Vision Pro in early 2024, the report said in a key finding. However, Apple itself is not expected to drive a substantial number of headset sales in 2024 as both demand and supply will be limited due to its high entry pricing of $3,500 and high-end components, such as OLED screens.

Instead, Apple is likely to drive substantive buzz around the market that will benefit other entrenched vendors, the report said. 

Meta Platforms is most likely to benefit as it builds on its market-leading position with a new headset Quest 3 later in 2023 and a price reset on its existing hardware. 

The S&P Market Intelligence report also is predicting that AR/VR will also be an important tool in accessing and building content for the metaverse. 

More AR/VR use cases are expected to fuel the need for more shared virtual spaces, avatars, and the convergence of digital and physical data, the report said. This will be true in the consumer space (gaming, social) as well as the commercial space (digital twins, training, industrial design). As more headsets are installed, shared virtual experiences are expected to make a more concerted effort to serve those users and vice versa.

The S&P researchers report that there were an estimated 39.7 million AR and VR headsets installed in consumer and commercial settings as of the end of 2022, down 1.2% from 34.2 million in 2021 as user churn outpaced slowing sales. But installed base growth base is expected to pick up in 2023, and over the forecast, the installed base is forecast to grow to 71.4 million.

Apple’s interest in virtual and augmented reality has been fairly clear for a while. It started acquiring companies with expertise in the field at least as early as six or seven years ago, perhaps most prominently the startup Vrvana in November 2017. Whether it’s fair to call Vision Pro a “Vrvana Totem” evolved by Apple’s vast R&D budget is necessarily speculation, but the purchase was certainly part of a trend. 

A few months earlier, the company bought SensoMotoric Instruments for its eye-tracking technology. Apple had owned environment-tracking specialists Flyby Media since the beginning of 2016 and augmented reality startup Metaio since the year before. It’s hardly rare for large companies to make that kind of acquisition, but it didn’t take much to connect the dots even then.

The Legacy of Evans and Sutherland
The concept of head-mounted displays in general dates back to at least the 1960s and the work of Ivan Sutherland, whose later collaboration with David Evans would yield things which are still fundamental to computer graphics. Evans and Sutherland equipment would be key to Tron, for instance. Apple, meanwhile, would quite rightly object to the idea that its Vision Pro device is a mere display. It incorporates several displays, loudspeakers, cameras for conventional imaging, motion tracking and eye tracking, as well as all the computing resources to make those things useful. 

(Read: I wore the Apple Vision Pro — and it's truly amazing (and a bit unsettling))

The company has been particularly keen to emphasize the system’s low latency, with sub-ten-millisecond numbers suggesting that it should be capable of avoiding the lag between real-world movement and display updates which sometimes make devices like this distracting to use. Ultimately, latency in digital imaging affects everyone from video gamers to camera operators watching a viewfinder. Back in the days of analog electronics, the time between a photon entering a lens and another exiting a display was often mere nanoseconds—the propagation delay of a few dozen transistors, but no longer.

There’s an argument that digital technology has made hardware designers too relaxed, waiting for an entire frame to be downloaded from a camera’s sensor before starting work on it. Do that, and the minimum delay is one full frame, or about 17 milliseconds at 60 frames per second. It doesn’t take much for that to become a few frames, which is sluggish enough to risk seasickness in the context of a headset.

This is particularly relevant to Vision Pro, which creates its augmented reality by taking pictures of the real environment, superimposing virtual elements, and then displaying the result to the user. The advantage is that virtual objects appear solid, without the ghostly transparency of augmented-reality devices which reflect virtual objects into the user’s field of view. The disadvantage is that latency must be low, and considering there’s 3D rendering to be done, that’s not necessarily easy.

There’s nothing preventing a camera from sending the picture in much smaller pieces, for vanishingly low latency. It’s just rarely done like that. Exactly how far into the weeds Apple has gone on this is something only its engineers know, but it’s no surprise that Vision Pro uses some custom hardware. The semiconductor Apple calls R2 presumably incorporates quite a lot of digital signal processing to handle the eye, feature and gesture tracking from the device’s twelve cameras, but we can guess with some confidence that the whole architecture of the device is designed, wherever possible, for low latency.

Micro-LED
As to Vision’s CPU, notice that Apple recently moved its last computer range to linger with Intel processors, the upscale Mac Pro, to its own ARM-based M-series device. There are both business and technical reasons to do that, but the company has probably been most vocal about reduced power consumption for its laptops. Some promotional hyperbole was inevitable, and when the first M1 CPUs emerged there absolutely were Intel-compatible options with competitive power-to-performance numbers (the surprise was that they came from AMD.) 

Power concerns are less relevant to a performance-centric, mains-powered workstation like Mac Pro, but they certainly are relevant to the M2-based Vision Pro. With the device relying on external power, every joule saved is worth its weight in lithium ions.

The displays being driven by this combination of hardware are described by Apple as “micro OLED,” which is a comparatively recent development. The term “micro-LED” is a more common term for highly miniaturised arrays of LED emitters; essentially a microscopic version of the video walls used for virtual production. Micro-LED is a promising technology that might replace LCD and OLED entirely, offering more brightness and contrast than either, but it exists outside the lab. An OLED emitter, meanwhile, is still a diode that emits light, but it involves some rather different physics. The terms are not interchangeable.

So “micro-OLED” means a very small OLED, possibly based on Sony technology. A lot of head mounted displays use LCD display panels simply because they’re available, and they’re available because of the huge demand for marketable resolution figures in the cellphone market. 

The problem is that even the best LCDs aren’t really what a headset designer really wants. 3800 by 1440 pixels and 500 pixels per inch, as achieved in the Galaxy S23 Ultra, is more than enough for a phone. It’s still too few pixels, and in too large a format, to be ideal for a device like Vision Pro, which wants to fill the observer’s field of view using small, lightweight hardware.

The compromise is between field of view and resolution. Like most headsets, with a 100-degree field of view, Vision Pro does not fill the user’s entire visual field. Vision Pro’s 4K displays are competitive for a current release, but the human visual field is almost 180 degrees wide. That’s a lot to cover considering there are speculative designs which discuss 35 pixels per degree. That’s the number discussed by Pimax’s Reality 12K QLED, which was intended to hit CES 2022, though it’s now projected for 2024. The 12K number, in that case, means one 6K LCD display per eye.

An Impressive Piece of Technology
If 12 cameras seems like a lot, consider that many of them will be in at least stereo pairs. The inside-out motion tracking, which locates the headset by observing the environment, might account for several. The eye tracking requires cameras, and the gesture recognition too. 

Add cameras for general-purpose visible light imaging and it’s not hard to reach a dozen. These will presumably be cameras of the general type used on cellphones, representing another technology which has benefited hugely from advancements in that field. 

Vision Pro is an impressive package of technology. There’s a lot in it and what’s there is high end, as it should be for the price. While it’s a cutting edge VR/AR device, the cutting edge is in rapid motion and it’s certainly not the first such device to be cutting edge at launch. In the end, the success of any computer hardware ultimately depends on what the software does with it. It depends how reliable the gesture recognition is, how accurate the motion tracking is, how well those displays work, and what developers do with them.

Apple certainly knows that the price tag precludes Vision Pro becoming a mass-market item, and that might make success difficult to identify, let alone predict.  What matters is whether the hardware works well enough for the software to be popular and effective. The company has certainly given itself the best possible chance.

NEW YORK—While reaction to Apple’s new AR/VR headset, Apple Vision Pro, has been decidedly mixed, with some commentators comparing Vision Pro's prospects to the failure of the 3D TV set category, a new S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis offers a more positive take. 

“Apple is bound to revitalize the AR/VR market, but it may take some time to find the right price-to-feature ratio that will catalyze mass-market adoption,” according to a blog post by  Neil Barbour at S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis.

S&P is predicting that the high price of the Apple Vision Pro, which is set to sell for $3,499 when it launches early next year, will limit sales to under 500,000 in the first year but demand should increase as prices come down. 

Barbour also argues that “we believe that Apple's real goal is selling smart glasses, not headsets. No matter how sexy and slim Apple can make a headset, that headset will still likely occlude eyesight, put extra weight on the skull or mess with people's hair. The mass market is already used to the look and feel of sunglasses and eyeglasses, making the form factor much more palatable.”

The S&P analysis also estimates that the global installed base of AR/VR headsets in 2022 was about 34.7 million, up from 20.6 million in 2020, but barely above the 34.4 million headsets being used in 2018. 

“Apple's announcement was the clearest articulation yet of the idea that AR and VR are not just for gaming or niche commercial settings but can be used in daily life as one would use a laptop or a phone,” he wrote, adding later in the post that Meta is planning to bring some of the innovations featured in Vision Pro to its next generation of the Quest headset. 

The full analysis is available here. 

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Apple has unveiled its much anticipated virtual reality headset, the new Apple Vision Pro that is expected to go on sale in early 2024. 

Prior to launch, analysts had been discussing the upcoming product as the latest tech entry into the metaverse or mixed reality headset market that has as yet failed to click with consumers despite billions of dollars worth of investment from Facebook. 

Apple is attempting to sidestep those comparisons by positioning Apple Vision Pro as “a revolutionary spatial computer that seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world, while allowing users to stay present and connected to others.”

Pricing for the device will start at $3,499 when it begins shipping in 2024. 

“Today marks the beginning of a new era for computing,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Just as the Mac introduced us to personal computing, and iPhone introduced us to mobile computing, Apple Vision Pro introduces us to spatial computing. Built upon decades of Apple innovation, Vision Pro is years ahead and unlike anything created before — with a revolutionary new input system and thousands of groundbreaking innovations. It unlocks incredible experiences for our users and exciting new opportunities for our developers.”

“Creating our first spatial computer required invention across nearly every facet of the system,” added Mike Rockwell, Apple’s vice president of the Technology Development Group. “Through a tight integration of hardware and software, we designed a standalone spatial computer in a compact wearable form factor that is the most advanced personal electronics device ever.”

In launching the product, Apple emphasized a wide range of technology innovations involved in its development, ranging from display technology and new custom computer chips to visionOS, the world’s first spatial operating system.

Apple said that Vision Pro is designed to create an infinite canvas for apps that scales beyond the boundaries of a traditional display and introduces a fully three-dimensional user interface controlled by the most natural and intuitive inputs possible — a user’s eyes, hands, and voice.

The visionOS spatial operating system allows users of Vision Pro to interact with digital content in a way that feels like it is physically present in their space, Apple said. 

The design of Vision Pro also features an ultra-high-resolution display system that packs 23 million pixels across two displays, and custom Apple silicon in a unique dual-chip design to ensure every experience feels like it’s taking place in front of the user’s eyes in real time, Apple reported. 

The device is designed to provide a number of new experiences, including: 

• An infinite canvas for apps at work and at home: visionOS features a three-dimensional interface that frees apps from the boundaries of a display so they can appear side by side at any scale. Apple Vision Pro enables users to be even more productive, with infinite screen real estate, access to their favorite apps, and all-new ways to multitask. And with support for Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad, users can set up the perfect workspace or bring the powerful capabilities of their Mac into Vision Pro wirelessly, creating an enormous, private, and portable 4K display with incredibly crisp text.
• Engaging entertainment experiences: With two ultra-high-resolution displays, Apple Vision Pro can transform any space into a personal movie theater with a screen that feels 100 feet wide and an advanced Spatial Audio system. Users can watch movies and TV shows, or enjoy stunning three-dimensional movies. Apple Immersive Video™ offers 180-degree high-resolution recordings with Spatial Audio, and users can access an exciting lineup of immersive videos that transport them to entirely new places.
• Spatial computing makes new types of games possible with titles that can span a spectrum of immersion and bring gamers into all-new worlds. Users can also play over 100 Apple Arcade games on a screen as large as they want, with incredible immersive audio and support for popular game controllers.
• Immersive Environments: With Environments, a user’s world can grow beyond the dimensions of a physical room with dynamic, beautiful landscapes that can help them focus or reduce clutter in busy spaces. A twist of the Digital Crown lets a user control how present or immersed they are in an environment.
• Memories come alive: Featuring Apple’s first three-dimensional camera, Apple Vision Pro lets users capture, relive, and immerse themselves in favorite memories with Spatial Audio. Every spatial photo and video transports users back to a moment in time, like a celebration with friends or a special family gathering. Users can access their entire photo library on iCloud®, and view their photos and videos at a life-size scale with brilliant color and spectacular detail. Every Panorama shot on iPhone® expands and wraps around the user, creating the sensation they are standing right where it was taken.
• FaceTime becomes spatial: With Apple Vision Pro, FaceTime calls take advantage of the room around the user, with everyone on the call reflected in life-size tiles, as well as Spatial Audio, so it sounds as if participants are speaking right from where they are positioned. Users wearing Vision Pro during a FaceTime call are reflected as a Persona — a digital representation of themselves created using Apple’s most advanced machine learning techniques — which reflects face and hand movements in real time. Users can do things together like watch a movie, browse photos, or collaborate on a presentation.
• Even more app experiences: Apple Vision Pro has an all-new App Store where users can discover apps and content from developers, and access hundreds of thousands of familiar iPhone and iPad® apps that run great and automatically work with the new input system for Vision Pro. Apple’s developer community can go even further and take advantage of the powerful and unique capabilities of Vision Pro and visionOS to design brand-new app experiences, and reimagine existing ones for spatial computing. 
• Apple Vision Pro also features EyeSight. When a person approaches someone wearing Vision Pro, the device feels transparent — letting the user see them while also displaying the user’s eyes. When a user is immersed in an environment or using an app, EyeSight gives visual cues to others about what the user is focused on, Apple reported. 

Apple also stressed that the device utilizes most advanced materials possible.

Apple Vision Pro uses a singular piece of three-dimensionally formed and laminated glass is polished to create an optical surface that acts as a lens for the wide array of cameras and sensors needed to blend the physical world with digital content. The glass flows into the custom aluminum alloy frame that gently curves around the user’s face, while the modular system allows for a tailored fit to accommodate a wide range of people. The Light Seal is made of a soft textile, and comes in a range of shapes and sizes, flexing to conform to a user’s face for a precise fit. Flexible straps ensure audio remains close to the user’s ears, while a Head Band — available in multiple sizes — is three-dimensionally knitted as a single piece to provide cushioning, breathability, and stretch. The band is secured with a simple mechanism, making it easy to change to another size or style of band, Apple reported. 

In terms of its computational power, Apple reported that Apple Vision Pro is designed to deliver phenomenal compute performance in a compact wearable form factor. Featuring a breakthrough ultra-high-resolution display system built on top of an Apple silicon chip, Vision Pro uses micro-OLED technology to pack 23 million pixels into two displays, each the size of a postage stamp, with wide color and high dynamic range. 

"This technological breakthrough, combined with custom catadioptric lenses that enable incredible sharpness and clarity, delivers jaw-dropping experiences," Apple announced. "Users with vision correction needs will use ZEISS Optical Inserts to ensure visual fidelity and eye tracking accuracy."

The system also features an advanced Spatial Audio system, creating the feeling that sounds are coming from the environment around the user and matching the sound to the space. Two individually amplified drivers inside each audio pod deliver Personalized Spatial Audio based on the user’s own head and ear geometry, Apple said. 

In addition to creating a breakthrough display and advanced audio experiences, the high-performance eye tracking system in Apple Vision Pro uses high-speed cameras and a ring of LEDs that project invisible light patterns onto the user’s eyes for responsive, intuitive input.

The Apple silicon that powers the device features a unique dual-chip design. M2 delivers unparalleled standalone performance, while the brand-new R1 chip processes input from 12 cameras, five sensors, and six microphones to ensure that content feels like it is appearing right in front of the user’s eyes, in real time. R1 streams new images to the displays within 12 milliseconds — 8x faster than the blink of an eye. Apple Vision Pro is designed for all-day use when plugged in, and up to two hours of use with its external, high-performance battery.

 More information is available here. 

 CUPERTINO, Calif.—Apple has announced some major software updates for Apple TV 4K that will add such features as FaceTime, video conferencing and Dolby Vision 8.1 to the tvOS 17 operating system. 

The new operating system tvOS 17, which will become available in the fall, also introduces an all-new Control Center, along with other enhancements that provide a more personalized experience that works even better with iPhone, the company announced. 

tvOS 17 is available as a developer beta starting today, June 5, and it will be available as a free software update this fall.

“tvOS 17 transforms the biggest screen in the home with FaceTime and new video conferencing capabilities, giving Apple TV 4K users the ability to easily connect with anyone right from their living room,” said Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “New features and enhancements make Apple TV simpler to use and even more enjoyable, reinforcing it as the absolute best option in the living room for Apple customers.”

Starting this fall, Apple TV 4K users can take advantage of the new FaceTime app on Apple TV and initiate calls directly from Apple TV, or start calls on iPhone or iPad, and hand them off to Apple TV. FaceTime on Apple TV takes advantage of Continuity Camera support to wirelessly connect to the user’s iPhone or iPad, and leverages the device’s camera and microphone to bring participants together on the TV.

The new Center Stage feature keeps everyone in the room perfectly framed on the screen, even as they move around, while new gesture-based reactions allow callers to use their hands to generate onscreen effects, such as hearts or fireworks, and add even more fun to the conversation, Apple said. 

In addition, the introduction of Split View for Apple TV lets users enjoy watching shows or movies with friends and family during a SharePlay session while also seeing everyone on the FaceTime call.

Apple also announced that controls on iPhone or iPad make it easy to transfer a FaceTime call back to those devices as needed. If another FaceTime or phone call comes in during a session, a notification appears on the TV to let the user know someone is calling — without revealing who the caller is, to preserve the user’s privacy on a communal device.

Later this year, video conferencing apps like Webex by Cisco and Zoom will launch on tvOS, bringing their communications capabilities to Apple TV 4K. 

Developers can take advantage of Continuity Camera APIs on Apple TV 4K to integrate the iPhone or iPad camera and microphone into their tvOS app, and create new shared and immersive entertainment experiences for the living room.

These include Apple Music Sing — a feature that lets users sing along to their favorite tracks — will also integrate Continuity Camera so users can see themselves onscreen and add entertaining filters.

The new Control Center on Apple TV also makes it easier than ever for users to access key settings and information throughout the entire Apple TV experience. Control Center now displays system status, including the time and active profile, and expands with other helpful details based on a user’s activity.

tvOS 17 strengthens the seamless integration of Apple TV and iPhone with the ability to locate the Siri Remote. Users can launch the Apple TV remote inside Control Center on iPhone to find their Siri Remote (2nd generation or later). As users get closer to the remote, an onscreen circle grows in size to guide their movement, Apple said. 

In addition, when using the remote on iPhone to wake up and control Apple TV, users will be automatically switched to their profile, ensuring they have access to their recently watched shows and personalized recommendations. Additional settings and preferences are now saved for each user profile, including their system language and paired AirPods, delivering an even more personalized experience.

Additional features coming with tvOS 17 include:

• Enhance Dialogue, which lets users more clearly hear what is being said over the effects, action, and music in a movie or TV show on Apple TV 4K paired with HomePod (2nd generation) by separating the dialogue from the background noise and bringing it forward to the center channel.
• Dolby Vision 8.1 support, which offers Apple TV 4K users a more cinematic visual experience with dynamic metadata over a broader range of movies and TV shows.
• Apple Fitness+ enhancements, including Custom Plans, a new way for Fitness+ users to receive a custom workout or meditation schedule based on day, duration, workout type, and more; Stacks, which allows users to select multiple workouts and meditations to seamlessly do back to back; and Audio Focus, which gives users the ability to prioritize the volume of the music or the trainers’ voices.
• Third-party VPN support, which enables developers to create VPN apps for Apple TV. This can benefit enterprise and education users wanting to access content on their private networks, allowing Apple TV to be a great office and conference room solution in even more places.

The tvOS developer beta is available for Apple Developer Program members at developer.apple.com starting June 5, and a public beta program will be available to Apple TV users next month at beta.apple.com.  

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Apple has unveiled Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad in a move that will allow video and music creators to use the iPad as a mobile studio to streamline the creation of local TV news, broadcast news and other types of video and audio production for TV and streaming. 

Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad will be available on the App Store as subscriptions starting Tuesday, May 23 for $4.99 per month or $49 per year with a one-month free trial. Final Cut Pro is compatible with M1 chip iPad models or later, and Logic Pro will be available on A12 Bionic chip iPad models or later. Final Cut Pro for iPad and Logic Pro for iPad require iPadOS 16.4, Apple said. 

“We’re excited to introduce Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad, allowing creators to unleash their creativity in new ways and in even more places,” said Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With a powerful set of intuitive tools designed for the portability, performance, and touch-first interface of iPad, Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro deliver the ultimate mobile studio.”

At launch Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad bring all-new touch interfaces that allow users to enhance their workflows with the immediacy and intuitiveness of Multi-Touch, Apple reported. 

Apple said that Final Cut Pro for iPad offers a powerful set of tools for video creators to record, edit, finish, and share, all from one portable device. Logic Pro for iPad puts the power of professional music creation in the hands of the creator — no matter where they are — with a complete collection of sophisticated tools for songwriting, beat making, recording, editing, and mixing. 

More specifically, Apple reported that Final Cut Pro for iPad introduces an all-new touch interface and intuitive tools — unlocking new workflows for video creators. A new jog wheel makes the editing process easier than ever and enables users to interact with content in completely new ways. They can navigate the Magnetic Timeline, move clips, and make fast frame-accurate edits with just the tap of a finger.

With Live Drawing, users can draw and write directly on top of video content using Apple Pencil. On iPad Pro with M2, Apple Pencil hover unlocks the ability for users to quickly skim and preview footage without ever touching the screen. They can also speed up their workflows by adding a Magic Keyboard or Smart Keyboard Folio to utilize key commands.

Apple also said that creators can view and edit HDR video — taking advantage of the Liquid Retina XDR display on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro — and apply color grades with accuracy using Reference Mode.

Other key features according to Apple include: 

• Pro Camera Mode and Multicam Video Editing. Pro camera mode brings even greater control to the creation process on iPad. Video creators can shoot high-quality video in portrait or landscape orientation, monitor audio and available recording time, and manually control settings like focus, exposure, and white balance. Creators can capture, edit, and publish from a single device while in the field, and on iPad Pro with M2, users can even record in ProRes.3 With multicam video editing, clips can automatically be synchronized and edited together, and users can even switch angles in a multicam clip with just the touch of a finger.
• Fast Cut Features with Machine Learning. Final Cut Pro for iPad harnesses the power of Apple silicon and machine learning to speed up time-consuming editing tasks. With Scene Removal Mask, creators can quickly remove or replace the background behind a subject in a clip without using a green screen. Auto Crop adjusts footage for vertical, square, and other aspect ratios, and with Voice Isolation, background noise can easily be removed from audio captured in the field.
• Pro Graphics, Effects, and Audio. Video creators can choose from a vast library of professional graphics, effects, and audio to enhance their storytelling. These include stunning HDR backgrounds, customizable animated patterns, and professional soundtracks that automatically adjust to the length of a video.
• Import and Export. Editors can import supported media from Files or Photos, and save it directly inside a Final Cut Pro project. Final Cut Pro for iPad also supports the ability to import projects created in iMovie for iOS,4 and iPad users can export their Final Cut Pro projects to Mac.5
• Logic Pro for iPad. Logic Pro for iPad combines the power of Logic Pro with the portability of iPad to unlock an all-in-one professional music creation app. With Multi-Touch gestures, music creators can play software instruments and interact naturally with controls, as well as navigate complex projects with pinch-to-zoom and swipe-to-scroll. Plug-in Tiles put the most useful controls at the creator’s fingertips, making it easy to quickly shape sounds. With the built-in mics on iPad, users can capture voice or instrument recordings, and with five studio-quality mics on iPad Pro, users can turn virtually any space into a recording studio. Creators can also make precision edits and draw detailed track automation with Apple Pencil, and connect a Smart Keyboard Folio or Magic Keyboard to utilize key commands that speed up production.
• All-New Sound Browser. An all-new sound browser uses dynamic filtering to help music creators discover the perfect sound whenever inspiration strikes. The sound browser displays all available instrument patches, audio patches, plug‑in presets, samples, and loops in a single location, and users can tap to audition any sound before loading it into a project to save time and stay in their creative flow.
• Professional Instruments and Effects Plug-Ins. Creators can shape the sonic qualities of their music with over 100 powerful instruments and effects plug-ins in Logic Pro. Effects like vintage EQs, compressors, and reverbs let users tweak and fine-tune their tracks. With Multi-Touch, creators can play instruments using a variety of play surfaces. Logic Pro on iPad comes with a massive collection of realistic-sounding instruments and powerful synths including Sample Alchemy — a new sample manipulation instrument that can transform any audio sample with the tap of a finger.
• Beat Making and Production Tools. Producers can chop and flip samples, program beats and bass lines, and craft custom drum kits with a set of beat making and production tools. Beat Breaker, a new time and pitch-morphing plug-in, lets music creators swipe and pinch to radically reshape and shuffle sounds. Quick Sampler can chop and transform audio samples into entirely new playable instruments, and Step Sequencer lets users program drum patterns, bass lines, and melodies, and even automate plug‑ins with just a few taps. Drum Machine Designer enables the creation of custom drum kits by applying samples and unique plug‑ins to any drum pad. With Live Loops, users can capture inspiration and quickly build arrangements by mixing and matching musical loops.
• Pro Mixer. A full-featured mixer — complete with channel strips, volume faders, pan controls, plug‑ins, sends, and precise automation — gives users everything they need to create a professional mix entirely on iPad. Multi-Touch enables creators to mix intuitively and move multiple faders at once, and the mixer meter bridge lets them quickly navigate an overview of track levels, all from iPad.
• Import and Export. Logic Pro for iPad supports roundtrip capabilities, making it easy to move projects between Logic Pro for Mac and iPad.6 iPad users can export their finished songs in a variety of compressed and lossless audio formats, as well as individual audio track stems. Music creators can make a soundtrack in Logic Pro for iPad and export it into Final Cut Pro for iPad — providing incredible flexibility for working across music and video. Logic Pro for iPad also supports the ability to open projects created in GarageBand for iOS, so users can take their music to the next level with pro features and workflows.

BURBANK, Calif.—Alteon.io, a provider of cloud-based collaborative work tools, has launched its own iPhone app, creating a direct link between Apple’s camera technology and Alteon’s comprehensive content-management system. 

Alteon users can use the free app to send footage from their iOS device directly to their Alteon Cloud account for secure storage and collaboration. Once the files are uploaded, remote team members—such as video editors—can immediately begin the post-production process. Alteon Cloud automatically transcodes all video files, and users can integrate the platform straight into Final Cut Pro using Alteon’s workflow extension. 

The workflow enabled by the new app makes the creative process significantly faster and easier than using freemium file-transfer services saddled with limitations or shipping hard drives, according to the company. Alteon requires no special IT setup or maintenance and says the app is ideal for companies seeking more efficient cost-saving measures on their digital asset management, as well as independent creators looking to take the next step. 

Designed for content creators of all kinds—including filmmakers, influencers, journalists and production companies—the Alteon app features an intuitive user interface for the benefit of non-tech-savvy users. At the same time, it has professional-grade power that runs in the background of your phone, enabling users to continue using their iPhone while uploading media to the cloud, the company said. 

After content is uploaded to Alteon, creators can select files and folders to add custom, searchable meta tags; leave color-coded, time-stamped comments on video or audio files; share files and projects with anyone in the world; send secure screener links with optional password protection and expiration dates; and move finished projects into lower-cost storage tiers to save money. 

“Influencers and independent content creators are shooting increasingly high-quality content on cutting-edge smartphones,” said Matt Cimaglia, CEO of Alteon. “We wanted to create the kind of infrastructure that matched their talent and drive, simplifying their workflows and continuing to democratize the creative industry.” 

The Alteon.io app is now available for free on the App Store. Free accounts give users 10GB of storage and access to Alteon’s full suite of extensions and products, including its NLE integrations. Paid accounts start at $12/month and unlock the ability to share and join projects, purchase additional terabytes of storage and save money on lower-cost storage tiers. 

For more information, visit alteon.io.

Apple and Major League Soccer have unveiled more information about their plans for the MLS Season Pass streaming offering on Apple TV app, which kicks off with Matchday 1 on Feb. 25 and will offer live coverage of all MLS regular season games and extensive additional content. 

As more sports rights shift to streaming platforms like Apple TV+, the effort will provide a notable example of how leagues are rethinking sports production to take advantage of new features available on streaming platforms. 

"MLS Season Pass is a global project that required assembling a team of the most talented and accomplished leaders in every aspect of the broadcasting industry from all over the world," said Gary Stevenson, Major League Soccer’s deputy commissioner and president of MLS Business Ventures. "Our focus, with our partner Apple, is delivering an exceptional level of quality and storytelling that entertains and engages MLS’s passionate fans, improves their experience, and engages new fans through the reach of Apple and MLS Season Pass."

MLS and Apple have partnered with IMG Productions and the NEP Group for productions of over 900 matches representing over 2,000 hours of live coverage, as well as the production of live studio programming on MLS Season Pass.

Live studio programming will be created at a newly-rebuilt production facility in New York City with a trio of state-of-the-art studios that will serve as the central hub for all MLS Season Pass studio programming. 

For the new season, the league is also making a concerted effort to upgrade its production quality and to improve the way the games are covered with more cameras and camera angles, improved graphics, enhanced data, better storytelling, a more consistent look and features that will take advantage of the Apple ecosystem. 

One key upgrade will be offering all MSL matches in 1080p and Dolby 5.1 audio, which will mark the first time that all MSL games have been produced in 1080p. The production teams will also be using more cameras, over 20 for Championship matches. 

Besides IMG and NEP, key vendors for the production effort will include Sports Solutions, Vizrt, Deltatre, IMG Arena, TGI and AT&T.  

IMG is producing all the matches and studio content. It is doing the studio show production and is responsible for the editorial tone, look and feel of the production. They are also staffing the producers and directors for the production.

NEP, which helped produce 50,000+ live broadcasts in 2022, is providing the technical infrastructure, including all the mobile units for up to 14 games in a single day. It is also providing all the technical crews, camera people, replay operators, audio, crew and so forth.

NEP is also supporting those crews and productions with facilities in New York, Miami, Dallas, L.A. and Washington D.C. It is providing its largest studio facility in New York City, which will host the MLS studio production.

While the League is planning to offer new ways of covering the matches and changing the viewing experience for fans, the actual production infrastructure and approach will be fairly traditional in the first season. All the trucks will have control rooms and the games will not be remotely produced.

For the moment, MLS and Apple are also not saying when they might consider upgrading to 4K, which would use significantly more bandwidth than HD.

Another notable development for viewers is a streamlined schedule that will offer around 13 matches each Saturday and Wednesday, with matches starting at 7:30 local time. 

The MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app will also feature every match of the MLS regular season, Audi MLS Cup Playoffs, and Leagues Cup1 in one place, with more consistent match times and no blackouts – a first in live sports broadcasting, MLS said.

Another major focus will be providing both English and Spanish language programming, which two of the new studio shows being produced in English and in Spanish and matches in both languages. French will also be available for those games involving Canadian teams. 

In addition to the live games and thousands of hours of on demand programming, the MLS Season pass will offer three major studio shows: "MLS Countdown," "MLS 360," and "MLS Wrap-Up. "MLS 360", a new live whip-around show, provides live look-ins from every match, and features every goal, penalty kick, and big save, as well as analysis and discussion.

The league has hired a MLS Season Pass coverage team of more than 80  announcers and soccer legends presenting to fans in English and Spanish, plus French for matches involving Canadian clubs.

More than 60 play-by-play announcers and expert analysts will be in the booth calling matches each week. All MLS and Leagues Cup live matches will be produced at MLS stadiums, including on-site talent, using a fleet of production units to produce simultaneous coverage of up to 14 matches each game night.  

Fans in the US and Canada will have the option to select their home team’s radio broadcast for audio on the Apple TV app where available. Viewers will also have the ability to watch any match from the start and have access to the full game replay immediately after the match has ended.

MLS Season Pass is available in over 100 countries and regions, and is on billions of devices via the Apple TV app on Apple devices, smart TVs, streaming devices, set-top boxes, game consoles, and the web at tv.apple.com. Existing Apple TV+ subscribers can add MLS Season Pass for $12.99/month or $79/season; new subs will pay $14.99/month or $99/season.

PHILADELPHIA—Comcast has announced that Xfinity customers can now use AirPlay to stream and share programming from the Xfinity Stream app, including live news and sports, on demand movies and shows, and their DVR recordings, directly to Apple TV 4K and other AirPlay-supported devices.

The move builds on the company’s efforts to offer Xfinity TV customers with flexibility and choice in the way they access content and it strengthens recent tech ties between the pay TV provider and Apple. 

In March of 2022, Comcast launched the Apple TV+ app across Comcast’s entertainment platforms, and in June, Comcast brought the Xfinity Stream app to Apple TV devices.

New data from Ookla’s Speedtest Intelligence reveals the new Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 14 Pro were the fastest popular 5G devices in the U.S. with a median 5G download speed of 177.21 Mbps for the 14 Pro Max and 175.08 Mbps for the 14 Pro during Q3 2022. 

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 was a close third at 162.50 Mbps, while the Galaxy S21+ 5G and Galaxy S22 Ultra rounded out the top five at 140.06 Mbps and 137.42 Mbps, respectively. 

The Ookla data also showed that Apple’s iPhone was the fastest device in a number of other markets around the world, 

All five of the fastest 5G phones in the U.K. where Apple devices, with the Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max leading the pack. 

In Thailand the Apple iPhone 14 Pro was the fastest with a median 5G download speed of 236.35 Mbps.

During Q3 2022 in German, the Apple iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max had the fastest median 5G download speeds in the country with 181.09 Mbps and 177.98 Mbps, respectively. In Germany the top four fastest phones were all Apple devices.

However, in South Africa, the Samsung Galaxy S22+ had a median 5G download speed of 228.31 Mbps during Q3 2022, making it the fastest. 

In the Philippines the Samsung Galaxy A53 led with a median 5G download speed at 199.90 Mbps.

In Japan, the Sony Xperia 1 II 5G held the top spot with a median 5G download speed of 224.68 Mbps. 

In China, Ookla reported that competition for the fastest popular 5G mobile device was very close with the OnePlus 9 5G in the top spot with a median 5G download speed of 349.15 Mbps, followed the Huawei P40 5G was at 344.41 Mbps, the Huawei Mate 30 5G at 344.23 Mbps, the Huawei Mate 40 5G at 332.39 Mbps, and the Huawei Mate 40 Pro 5G at 328.25 Mbps.

Speed tests were also very close in Brazil with no statistically fastest 5G device in Brazil during Q3 2022. The Motorola Moto G 5G Plus had a median 5G download speed of 358.39 Mbps, the Xiaomi Poco X4 Pro 5G at 355.43 Mbps, the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max at 344.44 Mbps, the Apple iPhone 13 mini at 341.21 Mbps, and the Apple iPhone 13 at 336.04 Mbps, Ookla reported. 

The full report is available here. 

NEEDHAM, Mass.—Economic uncertainties helped push worldwide tablet and Chromebook shipments sharply lower in Q3 2022 compared to a year earlier according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker. 

The data showed that worldwide tablet shipments were down 8.8% year over year in Q3 2022, totaling 38.6 million units, and that Chromebook shipments fell to 4.3 million units, a year-over-year decline of 34.4%. 

Both markets have now shifted from supply constrained industries to ones that are demand challenged as consumer and education spending has slowed in the face of economic uncertainties, the IDC reported. 

IDC analysts also reported that Chinese vendors continue to do well in emerging markets where there is low-end demand and that sanctions from many vendors also enabled Chinese vendors like Huawei to perform well in the Russian market. 

Meanwhile, the emergence of low-priced Chinese OEMs like Realme, Xiaomi, Oppo and others, has fueled strong competition in the lower range devices. However, these gains still couldn't offset the decline experienced by the main tablet vendors.

Apple led in worldwide tablet shipments with 14.5 million units, a 37.5% market share, followed by Samsung (7.1 million shipments and a 18.4% share) and Amazon (4.3 million shipments and a 11.1% market share) in Q3 2022. 

"After massive growth in 2020 and 2021, a decline in the tablet market was expected in 2022. The market is now experiencing not only a slowdown in demand, but also some strong macro-economic headwinds. Even though most tablets (Android) and Chromebooks are lower cost, we're now seeing buyer concerns even at the low end. This is largely driven by these rising economic concerns," said Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers. "However, tablets have found many more use cases since the pandemic, from their role in the workspace to both in-person and remote learning, entertainment, and even digital transformations across various verticals."

"Chromebooks face a number of challenges in the industry, not all of which are because of limitations to the platform," said Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC's Worldwide Mobile and Consumer Device Trackers. "We firmly believe Chromebooks will continue to play a fundamental role in personal computing, and ultimately grow in presence compared to other existing platforms. But the growth will continue to be tempered as the industry adapts to this new environment we are all living in. We have seen many of the large PC brands prioritize around opportunities within the Windows PC space, and without their support from the supply side the Chrome market will continue to move rather slowly."

BOSTON—Global smartphone shipments fell 9% in Q3, 2022 compared to a year earlier but Apple had a strong quarter, boosting its share of the global business to 16%, the highest level in 12 years, Strategy Analytics reports.

Strategy Analytics is also predicting global smartphone shipments to decline by 9% to 10% for all of 2022. 

As global smartphone shipments fell 297 million units in Q3 2022, Samsung topped the global smartphone market with a healthy 22% share in Q3 2022 and Apple landed in second place, with Xiaomi, OPPO (including OnePlus) and vivo rounding out the top five smartphone providers. 

“Global smartphone shipments fell -9% YoY to 297 million units in Q3 2022,” said Linda Sui, senior director at Strategy Analytics. “This is the fifth consecutive quarter of annual decline by smartphone volumes. Inventory adjustments and geopolitical issues adversely impacted smartphone market in the third quarter of this year. Meanwhile, unfavorable economic conditions continued to weaken consumers’ demand on smartphones and other non-essential products.”

“We estimate Samsung shipped 64 million smartphones and topped the global smartphone market with a healthy 22% share in Q3 2022,” added Woody Oh, director at Strategy Analytics. “It slightly outperformed the total market and declined -7% YoY by shipment volumes. Demand tilted towards low- cost A and M series, while the newly launched Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 help the company strengthen the leadership in foldable segment. Apple shipped 49 million iPhones worldwide, up +6% YoY, for 16% global market share in Q3 2022. This is the highest third quarter market share for Apple over the past twelve years, at the expense of leading Chinese brands who are hampered by the sluggish performance in both home and overseas market. Apple had a good quarter, led by newly launched iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, while the demand for iPhone 14 remained mixed.”

“Xiaomi shipped 40.5 million smartphones and took third place with nearly 14% global market share in Q3 2022, slightly up from one year ago,” reported Yiwen Wu, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics. “Xiaomi outperformed other major Chinese brands and registered -8% annual decline rate, thanks to the well diversified regional footprint. However, Xiaomi continued suffering from the geopolitical uncertainties in Europe. China and India market also delivered a mixed bag for the Chinese brand. OPPO (OnePlus) held fourth spot and captured 10% global smartphone market share during Q3 2022. Vivo stayed fifth with 9% global smartphone market share in Q3 2022. OPPO (OnePlus) and Vivo both posted a double digit annual decline rate and lost ground in most markets, as 4G and 5G competition intensified sharply in China and other markets.”

Looking forward, Sui said, “we forecast global smartphone shipments to decline -9% to -10% YoY in full-year 2022. Geopolitical issues, economy downturn, energy shortage and price hike, exchange rate volatility, and Covid disruption will continue to weaken consumer demand during the last quarter of 2022. All these headwinds would continue through the first half of next year, before the situation eases in the second half of 2023. Samsung and Apple would continue to outperform and remain top two places. Chinese brands need to stabilize the performance in China market and explore new growth engine to terminate the falling track.”

Apple’s unveiling of the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max yesterday offered numerous surprises, including satellite connectivity, improved crash detection and the show-stealing “Dynamic Island” which takes the phone’s notch and turns it into an interactive, customizable information and access hub. But there were also some impressive upgrades to the camera, which has gradually become a tool that even the most demanding professionals turn to for media creation. 

The iPhone 14 Pro now sports a 48MP main camera with a quad-pixel sensor that adapts to the photo being captured, and features second-generation sensor-shift optical image stabilization. For most photos, the quad-pixel sensor combines every four pixels into one large quad pixel equivalent to 2.44 µm, resulting in amazing low-light capture and keeping photo size at a practical 12MP. 

The quad-pixel sensor also enables a 2x Telephoto option that uses the middle 12 megapixels of the sensor for full-resolution photos and 4K videos with no digital zoom, delivering optical quality at a familiar focal length, ideal for Portrait mode. Professionals will like the quad-pixel sensor now optimized for details in ProRAW; it also features a new machine learning model designed specifically for the quad-pixel sensor.

For shooting in low-light, the iPhone 14 Pro features Photonic Engine, offering a giant leap for mid- to low-light performance in photos across all cameras through a deep integration of hardware and software: up to 2x on the Main camera, up to 3x on the Ultra Wide camera, up to 2x on the Telephoto camera, and up to 2x on the TrueDepth camera. Photonic Engine enables this dramatic increase in quality by applying Deep Fusion earlier in the imaging process to deliver extraordinary detail, and preserve subtle textures, provide better color, and maintain more information in a photo.

Additional pro camera system upgrades and features include:

• A new 12MP Ultra Wide camera with 1.4 µm pixels, which delivers sharper images with more detail, improving already powerful macro photography capabilities.
• An improved Telephoto camera that offers 3x optical zoom.
• A new front TrueDepth camera with an ƒ/1.9 aperture that enables better low-light performance for photos and video. Using autofocus for the first time, it can focus even faster in low light and capture group shots from farther away.
• A new Adaptive True Tone flash that has been completely redesigned with an array of nine LEDs that change pattern based on the chosen focal length.
• Powerful computational photography benefits like Night mode, Smart HDR 4, Portrait mode with Portrait Lighting, Night mode Portrait photos, Photographic Styles to personalize the look of every photo, and Apple ProRAW.
• A new Action mode for incredibly smooth-looking video that adjusts to significant shakes, motion, and vibrations, even when video is being captured in the middle of the action.
• Cinematic mode, now available in 4K at 30 fps and 4K at 24 fps.
• Pro-level workflows for video, including ProRes3 and end-to-end Dolby Vision HDR.

As for the screen, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, available in 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch sizes, includes a new Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion that features the Always-On display for the first time ever on iPhone, enabled by a new 1Hz refresh rate and multiple power-efficient technologies. The advanced OLED display also brings the same peak HDR brightness level as Pro Display XDR, and the highest outdoor peak brightness in a smartphone: up to 2000 nits, which is twice as bright as iPhone 13 Pro.

Customers in the U.S. and 30 other countries and regions will be able to pre-order iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max beginning at 5 a.m. PDT on Friday, September 9, with availability beginning Friday, September 16. 

 SUN VALLEY, Idaho—NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has told CNBC that “I clearly believe we'll be moving to a streaming service” for the NFL Sunday Ticket rights and that their NFL+ streaming service will start for this season, with an announcement on pricing and other details “in a few weeks.”

The Sunday Ticket rights to all out of market NFL games had been held for many years by DirecTV. Apple, Amazon, Disney/ESPN are currently bidding on the package. CNBC has reported that the NFL is looking for more than $2 billion for the package. 

When asked by CNBC what it would mean “to be partnered with the likes of an Apple or an Amazon, to have those rights to a tech giant, and not to the likes of an ESPN Plus?” Goodell didn’t rule out working with ESPN, but stated that they were considering three platforms, which presumably referred to Amazon, Apple and Disney/ESPN. 

“Right now you know, we're on a video service to DirecTV,” Goodell said. “And it's, it's worked very well for us. But we really believe that these three platforms give us an ability to innovate beyond where we are today and make the experience for our consumers so much better. So it obviously makes it more available to our consumers and particularly the younger demographic is one that we really want to get to….this will make it more accessible for the fans. I think it would be a better experience for fans. And we're excited to see more and more games available on these streaming services."

Goodell also downplayed the impact this could have on linear TV ratings. 

“We had quite a bit [of streaming] last year….NBC would have their games on Peacock, of course and CBS on Paramount Plus and ESPN Plus and ABC. And we think that's consistent with our philosophy, which is to make our game available in the broadest possible platforms to be able to engage our fans the deepest way and I think that's consistent that we haven't seen it that hurt any of those platforms, because we think they're different users. We think that people who are watching on the streaming service aren't watching on television. So it's adding to our audience.”

“And that's really the focus we have for Amazon Prime,” Goodell continued. “This is the first time in 35 years that we've changed a major carrier of our packages to a Thursday night package. And that's going to be available only on Amazon Prime…..So that's a very big focus for us during the season.”

In terms of their direct-to-consumer service, Goodell said “we think it's very important to have a relationship directly with the consumer. We have a lot of content and a lot of ability to be able to do that. Consumers want it and so we're very excited about what the NFL Plus is going to be.”

He added that the service will be in place for the upcoming season but said details on pricing and other issues would not be made public for “a few weeks.”

The full interview with CNBC’s Julia Boorstin is available here. 

One of the early problems with live video streaming—first demonstrated at the 1997 NAB Show—was that the images hiccupped and sputtered due to constraints in bandwidth. Yet, even with those annoying imperfections, it was clear from day one that video had a future over the internet. 

Now—25 years later—getting rid of those video interruptions over the net is close to reality. It hasn’t been an easy engineering problem to solve. In live video streaming, it is important to remember that the lower the latency, the less robust the video signal becomes. Low latency video can hiccup, or stop playing completely, after even the tiniest gap in the bandwidth of the stream.

Balancing Act
Since day one, live video streaming has been a balancing act—low latency versus stability of the content stream. (Though things have dramatically improved from the days when virtually every online video was shaky and dropped out frequently.)

Today, depending on the value of the video content, latency takes on varying degrees of importance. With the standard streamed church service or town council meeting, which ranks as the lowest-valued content, segment size can be reduced from 2-4 seconds with little cost or concern. In this class of video, latency can be reduced to between 6–12 seconds.

More valuable, but pre-recorded, broadcast content averages about 5-6 seconds of latency, while demanding real-time content like OTT streaming of live online sports, gambling or gaming demand special low-latency technology. New technologies with complex names are dealing with the latency issue and programming vendors are expected to charge a premium for the service.

Until recently, ultra-low latencies of less than a second were best achieved using UDP-based WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication), a free and open source protocol introduced by Google in 2011. It provides web browsers and mobile applications with real time communication via program interfaces. 

Until about 2020, the HTTP approach—a competing method—could not provide a low enough latency for interactivity, so WebRTC remained a popular solution. 

Apple vs. Microsoft (Again)
However, the cost and complexity of encoding and storing the same video file twice for the two main computer platforms—Apple and Microsoft—made processing and storage of content expensive. Two versions of the same video stream had to be made either in advance or instantly. With users accessing streams across iPhones, smart TVs, Xboxes and PCs, this expensive complexity became a major issue.

In 2016, Apple and Microsoft suggested that the Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) create a new uniform standard called “Common Media Application Format” to simplify online delivery of HTTP-based streaming media (Fig. 1). It was published in 2018. 

Once the standard was created, manufacturers implemented it quickly. The benefits of encoding, packaging and caching a single container for video delivery was obvious. But CMAF did more than just reduce encoding complexity.

HTTP-based video delivery still lacked the real-time delivery options that viewers wanted. CMAF had to also improve latency. Now, Microsoft and Apple have agreed to reach audiences across the HLS and DASH protocols by using CMAF, a standardized transport container (Fig. 2). 

CMAF represents a coordinated industry-wide effort to lower latency with chunked encoding and transfer encoding. It also supports file encryption and digital rights management. Multiple incompatible DRMs are supported, including FairPlay, PlayReady and Widevine.

Since its creation, CMAF has opened the way for a new generation of low latency technology. These consist of Low Latency HLS (LL-HLS), Low Latency DASH (LL-DASH) and the High Efficiency Stream Protocol (HESP). CMAF works hand-in-hand with these protocols.

LL-HLS, which was announced by Apple in 2020, became the most used technology for streams via HLS. There is a DVB standard for low-latency DASH and there is ongoing work to ensure interoperability for all DASH/CMAF low-latency applications. 

Harmonic and Akamai showed low-latency CMAF demos with a latency of under 5 seconds at the 2017 NAB and IBC shows. Since then, most other encoder and player vendors have integrated the technologies into their products. 

Market Competition
All low-latency systems work in the same basic way. Rather than waiting until a complete segment is encoded—which usually takes between six and ten seconds—the encoder creates much shorter “chunks” that are transferred to the content delivery network as soon as they are complete.

In a new forecast from Rethink TV, a research organization, it is predicted that low latency protocols will quickly find a place in live sports delivery. As time goes on, all content—not just sports—will make use of the protocols, the researcher predicted.

Rethink TV anticipates low-latency delivery will be a very competitive market in the next few years. These low-latency distribution technologies, which can be offered as a premium service to subscribers, are key for a number of competitive video technology vendors and users. Pivotal will be knowing how to optimize both the centralized and edge infrastructure to compete with rivals, the research found. 

As most devices are now totally compatible with CMAF, Rethink TV predicts most will be able to receive video streams packaged in LL-HLS and LL-DASH formats. Competitive forces will drive adoption.

For owners of content, rights holders and streaming services, the reduction of latency for live video can differentiate them from their rivals by dramatically improving the reliability of video service.

This also applies to broadcasters that operate both traditional pay-TV distribution infrastructure and an OTT service. Those broadcasters need to get their latencies down to something nearer their traditional pay-TV competitors.  

Reducing OTT latency is essential, but now for only live content. It will probably remain in the sports and betting arena for the time being. However, all on-demand video programming will eventually migrate to a low-latency technology, probably before the end of this decade. 

BOSTON—The ripple effects of the Covid pandemic continues to impact the tablet market and produced some surprising results in Q1 2022, according to a new report by Strategy Analytics. 

It reports that while vendors wrestle with supply constraints and logistical issues also stemming from the pandemic, strong demand for tablets continues and Samsung, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple all saw impressive growth rates in Q1 2022. 

A better than expected start to 2022 may be short-lived however, as COVID restrictions in China, additional logistic and inflationary pressures, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine all threaten to hold back supply going forward, Strategy Analytics cautioned via its Computing Devices (CCD) service and its new report “Preliminary Global Tablet Shipments and Market Share: Q1 2022.” 

“Tablet demand never really went away despite shipment declines for the last three quarters,” said Eric Smith, director – Connected Computing. “This has all been about vendors managing the twin challenges of persistent demand and supply constraints. Samsung, Amazon, and Microsoft pulled off great quarters given all the macro-level challenges with fresh portfolios and strong distribution strategies. Apple’s recovery from the supply constraints of last quarter was equally impressive as they actually grew shipments sequentially. That’s unheard of in this business, but with more disruptive factors at play, we should come to expect the unexpected.”

Chirag Upadhyay, industry analyst added, “Android tablet market share is at a new low of 50%, but competition has heated up among Android vendors looking to grab market share from Huawei’s smaller device footprint as well as the fast-shrinking white box market. Lenovo has been growing for more than two years with this strategy but Xiaomi, Honor, realme, OPPO, and even Nokia have recently jumped into the tablet market, creating new dynamics in mainland China and a handful of markets in south Asia, southeast Asia, and Europe.”

Apple iPadOS shipments (sell-in) fell -6% year-on-year to 15.8 million units in Q1 2022, with worldwide market share climbing 1.7 percentage points to 39% as the vendor outpaced the market, the researchers reported. 

Compared to the holiday quarter when Apple was severely supply-constrained, shipments were actually 1% higher quarter-on-quarter

Samsung led the Android market with only a -1.2% year-on-year decline in Q1 2022 to 8.2 million units; market share increased by 1.8 percentage points to 20% during the same period

Amazon was right behind Samsung growth-wise with a -1.3% annual decline with 3.7 million shipments; market share grew 0.8 percentage points to 9%

Lenovo tablet shipments fell once again after two years of growth but the company retained its #4 ranking globally as competition has heated up from smaller Chinese vendors; Lenovo shipments declined -20% year-on-year to 3.0 million units in Q1 2022 and market share fell -0.9 percentage point year-on-year to 7%

For the second quarter in a row, Microsoft broke into the #5 ranking globally in Q1 2022 with 1.4 million tablets shipped at a 1% annual growth rate; it was the only vendor in the top five to show growth. Market share increased by 0.4 percentage points to 3%

BOSTON—Global smartphone shipments fell -11% YoY to 314 million units in Q1 2022 but Samsung topped the global smartphone market with a healthy 24% share, the highest first quarter performance over the past five years, reports Strategy Analytics. 

Apple was in second place with 18% share. Xiaomi, OPPO (including OnePlus) and vivo stayed in the top five list.

“Global smartphone shipments fell -11% YoY to 314 million units in Q1 2022,” said Linda Sui, senior director at Strategy Analytics. “This is the third consecutive quarter of annual decline by smartphone volumes. Factory constraints and component shortages continued to restrict smartphone supply in the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, unfavorable economic conditions, geopolitical issues, as well as COVID-19 disruption (China rolling lockdown etc.) continued to weaken consumers’ demand on smartphones and other non-essential products.”

“We estimate Samsung shipped 75 million smartphones and topped the global smartphone market with a healthy 24% share in Q1 2022,” added Woody Oh, Director at Strategy Analytics. “It is the vendor’s highest first quarter performance by market share since 2017. Demand was strong for the newly launched flagship Galaxy S22 series, especially the higher-priced S22 Ultra model. Meanwhile, Samsung continues to ramp up mass market A series in multiple markets. Apple shipped 57 million iPhones worldwide, up +1% YoY, for 18% global marketshare in Q1 2022. Apple had a good quarter, led by iPhone 13 series and the newly launched iPhone SE (2022), which starts to become a volume driver in lower segment. Apple also captured the highest first quarter market share since 2013, at the expense of leading Chinese brands who are hampered by the sluggish home market.”

For the full year the company is forecasting a slight decline of 1% to 2% in 2022, said Sui. “This year will be a tale of two halves,” she said. “Geopolitical issues, component shortages, price inflation, exchange rate volatility, and Covid disruption will continue to weigh on the smartphone market during the first half of 2022, before the situation eases in the second half due to Covid vaccines, interest rate rises by central banks, and less supply disruption at factories.”

Apple today unveiled details about its Friday Night Baseball games, which debut on Apple TV+, April 8. 

“Friday Night Baseball” games and additional content, including new exclusive programs such as “Countdown to First Pitch” and “MLB Daily Recap,” begin today in the Apple TV app.

The broadcast team includes Melanie Newman (play-by-play), Chris Young (analyst), Hannah Keyser (analyst), and Brooke Fletcher (reporter) will call the New York Mets at the Washington Nationals at 7 p.m. ET; and Stephen Nelson (play-by-play), Hunter Pence (analyst), Katie Nolan (analyst), and Heidi Watney (reporter) comprise the crew that will call the Houston Astros at the Los Angeles Angels game at 9:30 p.m. ET. 

Game assignments for “Friday Night Baseball” broadcasters will be announced on a weekly basis. In her new role with “Friday Night Baseball,” Newman becomes the second woman to lead play-by-play duties for a national broadcast team; she joined the Baltimore Orioles’ broadcast team in 2020.

Apple has hired MLB Network’s production team to produce the games and Apple says the coverage ”will offer a modern and dynamic broadcast experience that appeals to new viewers and veteran fans alike.”

Each game broadcast will employ state-of-the-art cameras, including high-speed Phantoms, the high-resolution Megalodon, and more throughout the season to present vivid, live-action shots, and offer immersive sound in 5.1 with spatial audio enabled.

“Friday Night Baseball” will also incorporate new on-screen graphics that include new probabilities-based forecasts of different situational outcomes, plus highlights and live look-ins from around the league integrated right into the broadcast. Throughout the “Friday Night Baseball” broadcasts, fans will be able to listen to on-screen callouts about batters’ walk-up songs from Apple Music, test their knowledge of baseball trivia with help from Siri, and more. And, in a first for MLB games, “Friday Night Baseball” will feature rules analysis and interpretation from former MLB umpire Brian Gorman.

“Friday Night Baseball” live pre- and postgame coverage will be hosted by Lauren Gardner, along with a rotating group of analysts and former Major League Baseball (MLB) players, including Carlos Peña, Cliff Floyd, and Yonder Alonso.

In addition to two marquee games on Friday nights throughout the regular season, Apple TV+ will offer new 24/7 live programming with MLB game replays, news and analysis, highlights, classic games, and more. On Thursday, “Countdown to First Pitch” will preview the week’s upcoming games, and every morning, “MLB Daily Recap” will offer highlights from across the league, both available only on Apple TV+. The “MLB Big Inning” whip-around show will feature live look-ins and in-game highlights every weeknight. Additionally, fans will be able to watch full games, as well as condensed game replays, on demand on Apple TV+ after the completion of the live broadcasts each week.

“Friday Night Baseball” games will be available on any device that carries Apple TV+, including on the Apple TV app on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV 4K and HD, and on tv.apple.com, along with smart TVs, gaming consoles, and cable set-top boxes. “Friday Night Baseball” will be available on Apple TV+ in the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, and for a limited time, without the need for a subscription. 

NEW YORK—After inking deals for broadcast rights that could bring in over $100 billion during the next 11 years, the NFL is considering launching its own streaming service according to a report in Front Office Sports. 

NFL chief media and business officer Brian Rolapp told Front Office Sports that the service is “under consideration,” but he added that the league continues to talk to companies to license those rights. 

Front Office Sports reported that the service, which is tentatively called NFL+, would include games, radio, podcasts, and team content and would allow users to stream games from mobile devices without a cable subscription, for a potential monthly price of $5. 

Front Office Sports has also reported that Apple is talking to the NFL about “an equity stake in NFL Media, the `NFL Sunday Ticket’ package for out-of-market games, and livestreaming games on mobile devices.” 

The talks highlight a growing interest in live sports by streaming companies. Apple recently inked a deal with MLB for rights to baseball games and Amazon will have exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football starting in the 2022 NFL season.  

BOSTON—While supply constraints cratered tablet sales in Q4 2021, pushing shipments down by 25%, new data from Strategy Analytics shows that some players did better than others. 

Microsoft, for example, cashed in on the need for mobile productivity devices with a massive Surface portfolio refresh that improved sales and pushed it into the ranks of the top global tablet vendors for the first time ever. 

The new report from Strategy Analytics also noted that the supply constraints that hurt the market so badly at the end of 2021 seem to be easing. It cautioned, however, that it wasn’t clear if demand for new tables will continue into 2022 or if frustrated consumers had moved onto other interests. 

“Last year’s pre-vaccine holiday quarter was a tough one to compare against and when you add on the severe supply constraints impacting tablet vendors, it added up to a disappointing quarter,” explained Eric Smith, director – connected computing at Strategy Analytics. “The maddening thing is, demand far exceeded supply at the end of 2021, holding back higher revenues for everyone. There are signs that supply shortages are easing already in 2022, but we are not guiding this situation to end until after summer.”

“For the entire year, total tablet shipments fell just 3% to 183.1 million units,” Chirag Upadhyay, industry analyst at Strategy Analytics added. “Demand was steadily high through the year, but supply constraints caught up to all vendors by the end of the year. This is due to two factors. First, vendors prioritized notebook production to meet work-from-home and now hybrid work demand. Second, it was difficult to juggle sourcing components that tablets and smartphones share.”

Apple shipments (sell-in) fell 22% year-on-year to 14.6 million units in Q4 2021, with worldwide market share climbing 1 percentage point to 31% as the vendor outpaced the market

While remaining the top Android vendor, Samsung tablet shipments declined 28% year-on-year in Q4 2021 to 7.3 million units; market share declined by 0.7 percentage points to 16% during the same period, the researchers noted. 

Amazon performed the best among Android vendors with its deep holiday discounts; shipments declined 13% to 5.8 million units and market share grew 1.7 percentage points to 12%

Lenovo tablet shipments broke a nine-quarter streak of growth to fall 17% during Q4 2021 to reach 4.6 million units; market share climbed 1 percentage point year-on-year to 10%

For the first time ever, Microsoft cracked the top five global vendor list with tablet shipments totaling 1.9 million units and a marginal 1% year-on-year growth rate; market share increased by 1 percentage point to 4%

The full report from Strategy Analytics’ Connected Computing Devices (CCD) service, "Preliminary Global Tablet Shipments and Market Share: Q4 2021 Results" can be found here. 

BURBANK, Calif.—The Disney+ app has been updated with added support for Apple's SharePlay so subscribers with an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV will be able to watch content in sync with family and friends while on a FaceTime call.

Disney+ was one of the major streamers that indicated they would be supporting SharePlay when Apple first announced it in June. 

The Disney+ SharePlay experience is available globally across the entire Disney+ content catalog* from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and more, including new titles like Marvel Studios’ “Hawkeye”, “Welcome to Earth”, and upcoming Disney+ premieres like “Encanto” (Dec. 24) and “The Book of Boba Fett” (Dec. 29), the company said. 

“We’re very excited to launch SharePlay on Disney+ for Apple users in time for the holidays and ahead of several highly-anticipated premieres,” said Jerrell Jimerson, executive vice president of product and design, Disney Streaming. “With thousands of movies and shows and a growing content catalog of new titles and originals, SharePlay provides another opportunity for personal friends and family around the world to come together and create new memories with their favorite stories on Disney+.”

SharePlay sessions can host up to 32 people and offer each participant in the FaceTime call the flexibility of choosing audio and subtitles in the language of their choice, the company said. Viewers who prefer a bigger screen can also enjoy the synchronized content on their Apple TV while still sharing the moment with personal friends and family over FaceTime through their iPhone or iPad.

BOSTON—New research from Strategy Analytics finds that Samsung was the top smartphone vendor in North America in Q3 2021 narrowly beating out Apple for the top spot. 

Both Samsung and Apple grew their market share during the quarter. 

The data, which is important for media companies developing apps and digital products, showed that the Top-5 smartphone vendors by shipments for the region captured 93% of total shipments to the region. 

The shipment numbers also showed that consumers are increasingly slow in upgrading their phones. North American smartphone shipments were down 7% annually in the third quarter of 2021 compared to a year earlier.

Samsung led in North American smartphone shipments with a 38% market share, followed by Apple (37%) and Motorola (10%). 

All three vendors showed gains in the quarter, in part because LG has shuttered its smartphone unit. Both Samsung and Apple grew their market share by five percentage points while Motorola saw a two percentage point increase.  

“Samsung is the leading smartphone vendor in North America, with annual shipment growth of 5 percent,” says Ken Hyers, director at Strategy Analytics. “Samsung has clawed back share following three quarters when it was topped by Apple. Samsung has capitalized on the collapse of LG, which in the year-ago quarter held a 14 percent share in the North American region but has shuttered operations from Q3 2021. The combination of leading technology and a broad product portfolio have made Samsung smartphones, such as its premium Galaxy S21 series and affordable A-series the most popular Android devices in the region.”

“Apple captured 2nd place in smartphone shipments in the North America region in Q3 2021,” added Linda Sui, senior director at Strategy Analytics. “Apple’s newly introduced iPhone 13 5G smartphones drove a late Q3 2021 surge in shipments, which along with its older iPhone 12 models drove positive annual growth of 9 percent annually in the 3rd quarter of 2021. Apple’s growth would have been even stronger were it not for component shortages and manufacturing disruption in Asia that limited its ability to meet demand for its new iPhone 13 series smartphones.”

“Samsung also faced shortages that limited its ability to meet strong customer demand,” noted Woody Oh, Director at Strategy Analytics. “Samsung’s newest foldable smartphones, the Galaxy Flip3 and Fold3 were very strong sellers for the company. In fact, the Flip3 barely missed being its 5th best-selling smartphone in North America in Q3 2021, held back only by the company’s inability to produce as many of the devices as customers wanted, due to component shortages. Samsung expects a big quarter in Q4 2021 for its foldables with major promotions planned for Black Friday in North America which it predicts will fuel strong sales of the Flip3 and Fold3.”

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Newsrooms and video producers who have long used smartphones to capture video, will be taking a close look at Apple’s upcoming iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, which feature all-new camera hardware and a variety of new photo and video capabilities. 

The phones, which were announced by Apple on September 14 and start shipping on September 24, feature a new pro camera system that Apple is calling “its biggest advancement ever with new Ultra Wide, Wide, and Telephoto cameras that capture stunning photos and video, powered by the unmatched performance of A15 Bionic, more powerful than the leading competition.”

The phones are also the first smartphones to offer up to 1TB of internal storage, making them more appealing for video shooting, improved processing power with the A15 Bionic chip, larger sensors with 1.9 µm pixels, and great low light capabilities with up to 2.2x better low-light performance with the new Wide camera. 

Video takes a huge leap forward with Cinematic mode for beautiful depth-of-field transitions, macro video, Time-lapse and Slo-mo, and even better low-light performance, Apple announced. 

Both models also offer end-to-end pro workflows in Dolby Vision, and for the first time, ProRes, only available on iPhone. 

Apple says these new iPhones are the only smartphones in the world to provide an end-to-end workflow — capture, edit, and share in Dolby Vision or ProRes.

“iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max make up our most pro iPhone lineup ever with the biggest advancement for our camera system, the best battery life ever in an iPhone, and the fastest performance of any smartphone, setting a new standard for iPhone and enabling incredible experiences never before possible,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The new pro camera system offers even more pro photography capabilities like improved telephoto zoom, macro photography, Photographic Styles, Cinematic mode, as well as ProRes and Dolby Vision video. The Super Retina XDR display with ProMotion is our best display ever; it intelligently responds to the content on your screen, offers fantastic graphics performance, and is perfect for any viewing experience.”

Notable other features include: 

• New sensors and lenses for all three rear cameras, optimized to work seamlessly with iOS 15 and powered by the new image signal processor (ISP) in A15 Bionic for improved noise reduction and tone mapping.
• The all-new Wide camera has a larger sensor with 1.9 µm pixels, the largest ever on iPhone, for less noise and faster shutter speeds needed across lighting conditions, producing even more detailed photos.
• Coupled with the wider ƒ/1.5 aperture, the Wide camera on iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max offers a massive improvement in low-light situations, up to 2.2x when compared to iPhone 12 Pro, and nearly 1.5x when compared to iPhone 12 Pro Max.
• Sensor-shift optical image stabilization (OIS) — unique to iPhone — is available on both models, stabilizing the sensor instead of the lens, so images are smooth and video is steady, even when the user is not, Apple said.
• With a 77 mm focal length, the Telephoto camera on iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max lets users get even closer to their subjects for portraits and video.
• A faster Neural Engine in A15 Bionic, new ISP, and advancements in computational photography powers the all-new camera features on iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.
• Following extensive study of cinematography and the powerful use of rack focus, Cinematic mode on iPhone records videos of people, pets, and objects with a beautiful depth of field effect with automatic focus changes, giving the images a cinematic look.
• For creative control, the focus can be changed during and after capture, and users can also adjust the level of bokeh in the Photos app and iMovie for iOS, and coming soon to iMovie for macOS and Final Cut Pro. This makes them the only devices able to edit the depth-of-field effect in video even after recording. Enabled by A15 Bionic and advanced machine learning algorithms, Cinematic mode records in Dolby Vision HDR.
• iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max also introduce ProRes, an advanced video codec used widely as the final delivery format for commercials, feature films, and broadcasts, to offer higher color fidelity and less compression, This powerful new pro workflow is enabled by the new camera hardware, advanced video encoders and decoders in A15 Bionic, and flash storage pipeline. iPhone is the only smartphone in the world to provide an end-to-end workflow — capture, edit, and share in Dolby Vision or ProRes.
• Cinematic mode gives users the ability to add beautiful focus transitions and background bokeh in video, for more dynamic storytelling in creative projects and treasured memories.

More information on pricing, models and other features are available here.

BURNABY, Canada—Teradici, the creator of PCoIP technology and cloud access software, has announced general availability of Teradici CAS with support for the Mac.

The launch means that users can remotely access their Mac as if they were on a local machine, with the resolution and color fidelity they need to maintain the highest quality standards, the company said. 

As many users continue to work in remote and hybrid office settings, Teradici CAS allows Mac users to access their high-performance workflows—including VFX, animation, structural design, video editing and other high-performance creator and design workflows—from anywhere. Using the Teradici PCoIP remote display protocol to transfer only pixels, corporate assets remain securely located in industry-compliant, on-site content networks, the company noted. 

“Teradici CAS users have even more flexibility to re-imagine their workflows post-pandemic and can now securely remote into their high-powered Mac wherever they may be, including from their home office,” said David Smith, CEO at Teradici. "Working with Apple, Teradici has delivered an essential solution for power users and knowledge workers who rely on secure, high-performance remote access to their Mac. Enterprises can easily deploy Teradici CAS within their existing infrastructure, and users will love the color accuracy, incredible responsiveness, audio-video sync, multi-monitor support, and many other features that enable the Mac experience from anywhere.”

A video of how one user, Animal Logic, uses Teradici CAS to produce award-winning design, visual effects and animation is available here. 

A video on Teradici CAS for remote MAC desktops is available here and a guide can be found here. 

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Following the announcement that Apple will make co-viewing and sharing content easier with its new SharePlay product, a number of major streamers and digital companies have indicated that they are integrating SharePlay into their apps. 

As part of a major update to its operating system, Apple’s iOS 15 will allow users to share experiences using SharePlay while connecting with friends on FaceTime. 

SharePlay will let them listen to songs together with Apple Music, watch a TV show or movie in sync, or share their screen to view apps together. 

SharePlay works across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV, where users can watch shows or movies on a big screen while connecting over FaceTime, with SharePlay will keep everyone’s playback in sync. 

In making the announcement, Apple noted that Disney+, ESPN+, HBO Max, Hulu, MasterClass, Paramount+, Pluto TV, TikTok, Twitch, and “many others” are integrating SharePlay into their apps.

Notably, Netflix and Spotify were not listed by Apple. 

The announcement taps into a major digital trend during the pandemic, when isolated consumers turned to various apps and technologies to watch the same content or listen to the same music. 

“We’re incredibly excited to participate as a developer on SharePlay to enable innovative viewing experiences across Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus for our Apple users,” Jerrell Jimerson, executive vice president of product and design at Disney Streaming, said in a statement reported by Yahoo News. “This will give friends and family another way to come together to share the incredible stories that we deliver through our content, including bringing a live sports co-viewing experience to ESPN Plus for the first time.”

In addition, Apple will offer a web-based version of FaceTime, which will allow Apple users to connect and use SharePlay with others using Android devices or PCs.

CUPPERTINO, Calif.—Apple has pulled the curtain back on its new model of the Apple TV 4K, which, among its new features, delivers content in high frame rate HDR with Dolby Vision with the help of its A12 Bionic chip.

The A12 Bionic chip enables support for high frame rate HDR and Dolby Vision video, which enables smooth play of video running at 60 frames per second. This support also applies to Air Play, allowing for videos shot on iPhone 12 to be displayed in full 60 fps on the Apple TV 4K. The chip also boosts Apple TV 4K’s graphics performance, video decoding and audio processing.

There is also a new color balance process designed to improve a TV’s picture quality. Using the light sensor in an iPhone, Apple TV can compare the color balance to industry-standard specifications to tailor video output for more accurate colors and improved contrast without the need for adjusting TV settings.

Apple has also redesigned its Siri Remote, adding a new clickpad control with five way navigation, as well as being touch-enabled for fast directional swipes. The remote’s power button can also now control the TV’s power and mute. In addition, Siri now works on Apple TV in Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, adding to the regions that can access Siri to search for content, control smart home accessories and more.

The Apple TV 4K runs on tvOS, which gives users easy access to the Apple TV app, Apple Music, Apple Fitness+, Apple Arcade, AirPlay. It can also be used as a home hub for HomeKit accessories and offers multiuser support.

Apple TV 4K will be available for $179, with orders starting on April 30.

For more information, visit Apple’s website. 

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Christmas comes early to the Charlie Brown fans that were ticked when it was announced that the classic “Peanuts” holiday specials would not appear on broadcast for the first time in more than 50 years, as Apple has agreed for “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” to air on PBS and PBS Kids.

In October, Apple announced the Charlie Brown holiday classics would skip broadcasting and be available exclusively on Apple TV+, just ahead of Halloween when “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” usually airs. Even though Apple said that they would make the specials available for free on Apple TV+ for a limited window, people were upset by the news and an online petition was created to bring the annual tradition back to broadcast.

While it’s too late for the Great Pumpkin to show up, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” is scheduled to air ad-free on PBS and PBS Kids on Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m. local time/6:30 p.m. CT, while “A Charlie Brown Christmas” will air on PBS and PBS Kids on Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m. local time/6:30 p.m. CT.

Apple TV+ will still stream the “Peanuts” specials, including making them available for free for a limited time. “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” is available starting today, Nov. 18, and will be available for all interested viewers for free from Nov. 25-27. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” will begin streaming on Dec. 4 and available for free from Dec. 11-13.

Apple did not specify in its official announcement if this is a one-year deal or if the PBS broadcasts will occur annually.

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Apple has unveiled its latest iPhone model, iPhone 12, which includes a bevy of new features for its camera and other options for improving users’ visual options.

The launching point for the iPhone 12’s visual capabilities is the A14 Bionic chip. Combined with a new image signal processor, A14 Bionic enables computational photography capabilities, including Apple ProRAW, a combination of Apple’s multiframe image processing and computational photography with a RAW format. This helps give users control over color, detail and dynamic range either through the iPhone natively or with other professional editing apps.

iPhone 12 enables an end-to-end experience for HDR video with Dolby Vision, up to 60 fps, Apple said. Dolby Vision grading is processed live and sustained during editing. Dolby Vision uses the Super Retina XDR display for contrast during capture and video playback. There is also support for AirPlay up to 4K Dolby Vision to external devices.

The iPhone 12 has two cameras: an Ultra Wide camera and a focal length Telephoto camera. The camera’s capabilities depend on whether it is the iPhone 12 Pro or iPhone 12 Pro Max version. 

For the iPhone 12 Pro model, the Ultra Wide camera features a seven-element lens with a ƒ/1.6 aperture for 27% improved low-light performance in photo and video, per Apple. It also features a 120-degree field of view. The Telephoto camera has a 52mm focal length and an optical zoom range of 4x.

With the Pro max model, the Ultra Wide maintains the ƒ/1.6 aperture as well as a 47% larger sensor with 1.7μm pixels for a massive 87% improvement in low-light conditions. The Telephoto camera on this model has a 65mm focal length and 5x optical zoom range.

Other updates to the iPhone camera include improvements to Night mode, which has expanded to the TrueDepth and Ultra Wide cameras for a brighter picture. Additional features include Smart HDR 3 and a LiDAR Scanner for more realistic AR experiences.

In addition to the new camera features, Apple announced that the new iPhone will offer 5G service. By incorporating 5G, the iPhone will provide faster downloads and uploads, higher quality video streaming, FaceTime in high definition and more. Apple says that the iPhone 12 offers the broadest 5G coverage worldwide.

Apple has also updated the iPhone’s screen, switching from an LCD screen to OLED, which will allow for HDR video content that can reach up to 1,200 nits peak brightness.

The iPhone 12 starts at $799. Pre-ordering for both the Pro and Pro Max models begins on Oct. 16; the Pro will be widely available starting Oct. 23, while the Pro Max will be released starting Nov. 13.

For more information on the new iPhone 12 models, visit the Apple website. 

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Apple has released tvOS 14, the latest iteration of the operating system found in Apple TV connected TV devices, as well as smart TVs from Vizio and other electronics brands. 

Like most OS upgrades, the improvements are in the fine details. For example, Apple’s $179 Apple TV 4K debuted back in 2017 with support for HDR10, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. But due to a dispute with Google over 4K video codecs, tvOS didn’t support 4K videos on YouTube … until now, with the launch of tvOS 14, which supports the VP9 codec.

The new OS offers expanded support for picture-in-picture, which was previously available only within the Apple TV app. Now it’s enabled on pretty much any app you use on tvOS devices, meaning you can keep watching what you’re watching while moving around the Apple TV interface. 

There’s new multi-user support for Apple Arcade—all games save in progress now for every member of a family, for example. 

Perhaps most notable is support for devices powered by HomeKit, Apple’s home automation platform. Apple TV users will see a live video feed from a HomeKit-enabled smart doorbell, in the form of a floating thumbnail, when someone’s at the door, for instance. 

The upgrade is available for fourth-generation Apple TV devices, including the Apple TV 4K.

Apple is expected to release the next iteration of Apple TV hardware next year. 

EDMONTON, Canada—Here’s a tech irony: The company that’s made its bones on offering products with superior user interfaces and experiences comes in dead last with consumers when compared to other streaming video services and cable TV.

A survey of more than 1,200 pay-TV and streaming platform users released in mid-August from Flixed found Apple Inc.’s Apple TV+ garnered the lowest ratings from respondents when compared to Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and cable TV for their satisfaction with the service’s user interface—64% vs. 85% for Netflix, which topped the lists.

Similarly when it came to finding something to watch, Apple TV+ came in last. Fifty-seven percent of respondents reported they found Apple TV+ easy to use to explore new shows, and 55% said the platform made it easy to search for something specific.

PLUS: Hub: Half of TV Viewers Check Streaming First

By way of comparison, Netflix topped the list for being easy to explore new content at 85%, followed by Hulu at 81%, Disney+ at 75% and cable TV at 68%. Similarly, Hulu (84%) led the pack among respondents for being easy to search for something specific, followed by Netflix (82%), Disney+ (73%) and cable TV (63%), the survey said.

The bad news for Apple TV+ doesn’t stop at content discovery, however. “Apple TV+ is the least preferred streaming platform [12% among users and 3% among all respondents] and scored low across a variety of metrics,” according to an article from Flixed summarizing the study’s findings. 

Apple TV+ ranked lowest in percentage of users satisfied with each platform at 60% versus Netflix, which topped the list at 91%. Drilling down on satisfaction, the survey asked respondents whether they were satisfied with the quality and variety of content offered on each platform. Here again Apple TV+ brought up the rear.

“Not only was Apple TV+ seen as having the worst quality content (60%), users indicated it had the least amount of variety (64%) and the most unfriendly user interface (64%),” the article said.

The survey also revealed viewers are spending a lot of time finding something to watch. Overall, Americans spend an average of one day per year deciding what to watch. One in 10 reported spending an hour or more on at least one occasion looking for something to watch.

Nearly seven in 10 respondents said they were satisfied with the content recommendations made by Netflix, followed by Disney+ at 58%, the survey found. However, word of mouth from friends and family at 84% was the most valued source of content recommendations.

Flixed is a publisher focused on helping people cut the cord and offering information to consumers on streaming.

CUPPERTINO, Calif.—Apple has plans to integrate augmented reality content to its Apple TV+ shows as early as next year, according to a report by Bloomberg.

With AR technology, characters or objects from the shows could be integrated into viewers’ environments through their phones or tablets as new bonus content, Bloomberg reports. The goal is apparently not only to add value to the Apple TV+ service, but to boost interest in AR tech as Apple works on a headset that could be out in 2022.

An example of possible AR content provided by Bloomberg would be having a virtual lunar rover in your living room while watching the Apple TV+ original “For All Mankind.”

For more information, read the full story from Bloomberg.

CUPERTINO, Calif.—During Monday’s WWDC event, Apple announced a number of new features for its Apple TV service.

As part of an update to tvOS14, the company plans to launch a number of new features in the autumn including YouTube playback in Ultra HD.

“Watch the latest YouTube videos in their full 4K glory,” says the webpage for the update. “Your favourite music, slo‑mo, outdoor and vlog footage never looked better.”

Other new features will include picture-in-picture so viewers can minimize a film or TV series if they want to check something else on the app. Viewers will also be able to share audio, pairing two sets of AirPods with the Apple TV so two people can watch content while not bothering others.

Apple also said its app is now present on a billion devices, CEO Tim Cook revealed that the app was active on more than 900 million iPhones in the last year alone.

While Apple’s streaming service hasn’t caught viewers’ imaginations quite as much as Disney+, tech, media and telco analyst Paolo Pescatore tells TVT's sister publication TVBEurope the company is not trying to compete with other SVoD services (for now). “It has done a superb job of positioning itself as an aggregator with Apple TV—which is much more than a TV platform.”

“Apple TV+ allows the company to differentiate its overall offering. In essence it is a different service, which complements other so called rival services. It has a huge installed base, which is extremely attractive to content creators. This will help it understand viewer habits and behavioral patterns. While others will struggle, Apple’s broad reaches will ensure it success as it steadily expands its catalog and genres.”

NEW YORK—HBO Max is coming to Apple devices right away, as WarnerMedia has announced that the new streaming service is going to be fully integrated with the Apple TV app on iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Apple TV as of HBO Max’s launch on May 27.

Any customer with an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch will be able to access HBO Max directly, as will Apple TV customers with an Apple TV 4K or Apple TV HD. Those with second and third generation Apple TV models can stream HBO Max content from another Apple device to their Apple TV through AirPlay.

WarnerMedia also says that HBO Max will be integrated with the Apple TV app, enabling it to be readily available in the Watch Now section and in its own HBO Max room. Shows and movies can also be added to the Up Next queue. Siri and universal search will also be able to find HBO Max content.

HBO and HBO Now subscribers who are already billed through Apple will gain access to HBO Max at no additional charge, according to WarnerMedia.

“As we prepare for the launch of HBO Max, our focus remains on making its as widely available as possible for customers seeking out this best-in class streaming experience,” said Rich Warren, president of WarnerMedia Distribution. “The availability to HBO Max across Apple devices is a great addition to our distribution offering and will provide seamless access for millions of customers.”

In addition to Apple Devices, WarnerMedia says that HBO Max will be available through AT&T, Charter and YouTube TV, as well as other distributors that are expected to be announced closer to launch.

HBO Max is priced at $14.99 per month.

For more information, visit www.hbomax.com. 

I did a little light reading, [actually re-reading], over the holidays: 360 pages, 17 chapters and five appendices. The tome: “Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan.”

How time flies. It will be 10 years in March since the FCC published the massive work mandated by Congress. The theme of the plan is clearly stated in its executive summary: “Broadband in America is not all it needs to be.” To remedy the situation the plan made several recommendations, including making “500 megahertz of spectrum newly available for broadband within 10 years, of which 300 megahertz should be made available for mobile use within five years.”

I can still remember sitting in an auditorium during the 2010 NAB Show listening to former FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski—now a managing director at private equity firm The Carlyle Group in the U.S. Buyout team of the global telecommunications, media and technology—discuss the plan and how the impending spectrum crisis (or, was that a “spectrum crunch?”) would soon hinder the nation in manifold ways and how broadcasters could play an important role by participating in the incentive auction.

I also remember the FCC under the direction of his successor Tom Wheeler, who before taking on the chairmanship served 12 years as CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, then as an executive at D.C.-based venture capital firm Core Capital Partners and now is a visiting fellow for Governance Studies, Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings. He presided over the incentive auction, at one point calling it “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for broadcasters.

What prompted my holiday re-reading was the Dec. 20, 2019, Bloomberg article “Apple Has Secret Team Working on Satellites to Beam Data to Devices,” by Mark Gurman.

It is a real eye opener. “Apple Inc. has a secret team working on satellite technology that the iPhone maker could use to beam internet services directly to devices, bypassing wireless networks, according to people familiar with the work,” Gurman wrote.

While the project is in its early stages and could possibly be abandoned, Apple CEO Tim Cook has “shown interest in the project,” a sign that it is a priority for the company, he reported.

Wait just a second. I didn’t see one word about a $1.3 trillion tech company innovating satellite-delivered internet service to bypass wireless networks anywhere in the National Broadband Plan. It’s true, the word “satellite” is mentioned more than 100 times. But overall, the plan downplays how satellite-delivered broadband should fit into the future broadband service mix envisioned.

For example, on page 62 in footnote 10, the plan references “Broadband in America” by Robert C. Atkinson and Ivy Schultz, saying:

“Next-generation satellites will have much higher capacities, in excess of 100 Gbps each, with download speeds per user of up to 25 Mbps. Larger capacities could allow for usage patterns that more-closely mirror terrestrial usage. However, the high fixed costs of designing, building and launching a satellite mean that satellite-based broadband is likely to be cheaper than terrestrial service only for the most expensive-to-serve areas.”

Maybe, but Apple appears to be viewing things differently. And even if the company ultimately pulls the plug on its research, others are looking to provide internet bandwidth from space. According to an October 2019 CNBC story, Morgan Stanley believes companies offering satellite internet bandwidth are “where most of the upcoming value [$1.1 trillion by 2040] in the space industry will come.”

If Apple or some other well-funded company actually pulls off a satellite-based broadband service, where will that leave the wireless companies addressing the “spectrum crunch” with their 5G buildouts?

About 42% of U.S. smartphone customers currently use some sort of iPhone. One could only imagine the harmful effect on carriers of millions of future iPhone users ditching their wireless service in favor of an Apple satellite-based broadband alternative—something akin to the effects of cord cutting on cable TV companies.

That underscores the problem with today’s National Broadband Plan and any “2.0” version that may one day be released. Simply stated, the best-laid plans of mice and men—and regulators—often go awry.

Industries and infrastructures don’t typically turn on a dime, and when forced to respond to the priorities set by others with the power of government, they become vulnerable to innovators, entrepreneurs and iconoclasts who have a better solution or different vision and the dollars to bring them to fruition.

Until someone develops an accurate crystal ball, there will always be the risk that the future doesn’t play out as envisioned in some plan and that billions of dollars in capital spending on infrastructure will prove to have been misallocated. Sadly, however, that will only become apparent with the benefit of hindsight—often long after the money’s gone and those who developed the plan and advocated for it have moved on in their careers.

Perhaps two-time former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld best summed up the point, although in a different context. “[A]s we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”

CUPERTINO, Calif.—Apple is expanding the presence of its Apple TV app, announcing that it will become available on LG, Sony and Vizio smart TV “later this year.”

The Apple TV app gives consumers access to more than 30 Apple TV channels, including the Apple TV+ streaming service and its shows like “The Morning Show,” “Dickinson” and “See.” In addition, consumers can buy and rent TV shows and movies through the app, including ones in 4K HDR.

Previously, the app had been available on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac and iPod Touch devices, as well as Samsung smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV and Roku devices. Samsung was the first manufacturer to integrate the Apple TV app onto its smart TVs.

LG has already announced that its 2020 LG OLED and LG NanoCell TVs will feature the Apple TV app. For those with 2018 and 2019 LG TV models, they will be able to access the Apple TV app through a webOS smart TV update.

No official date has been announced for when the Apple TV app will be available on any of these TV models.

LONDON—Apple is not holding back with the advertising and planned content for its Apple TV+ streaming service. However, according to a new report from IHS Markit, the reach and potential subscriber growth for the service could be limited when it launches on Nov. 1.

Apple TV+ is estimated to only be available to a little more than half of the total U.S. market on its initial rollout. Set to be accessible for customers using iOS devices, Samsung Smart TVs and web browsers, IHS estimates its potential addressable base to be about 70 million households, or 57%.

Compare that to the streaming services of Apple’s expected competitors: Netflix reaches 95% of U.S. homes, while Disney+ will be available for 92% initially. IHS does not that the Disney+ streaming service’s reach is based on availability on Android mobile devices, as it has “a lack of Smart TV partnerships” at this time. Other streaming services expected to be launched in the next year include WarnerMedia’s HBO Max and NBCUniversal’s Peacock.

To broaden its market reach, IHS says that Apple must make Apple TV+ on third-party devices, including competitors’ digital media adapters. There are expected launches on Roku and Fire TV devices, as well as additional smart TV models, but no date has been announced as of yet.

“By opening up to other platforms, Apple TV+ will see its addressable base increase by 24% to 87 million U.S. households,” said Fateha Begum, principal research analyst at IHS Markit. “This will improve Apple’s position, but the company will still be at a disadvantage compared to competitors who can address the entire U.S. market of 124 million online households.”

BURLINGTON, MASS--Avid is responding to reports that emerged out of some Hollywood studios Monday that some Apple Mac Pros running Avid Media Composer were failing to reboot or were "slowly crashing," according to a report in Variety. Some editors took to social media to advise users to not reboot their machines and to backup all of their data. Some users online speculated that the cause could be a virus attack affecting Media Composer 8.8 operating on 6.1 Mac Pro and running prior versions of MacOS on Sierra.  

Avid issued this statement:

"Avid is aware of the reboot issue affecting Apple Mac Pro devices running some Avid products which arose late yesterday. This issue is top priority for our engineering and support teams, who have been working diligently to determine and resolve the root cause. As we learn more, we will immediately publish information—directly to our customers and via our community forums and social media platforms—in order to resolve this issue for all affected customers and prevent any further issues."

Avid also released a video on Tuesday featuring Avid's CEO and President, Jeff Rosica, that offers tips to users that may be impacted by the shutdowns. Watch the video below.

UPDATE 9/25: Avid released a press release saying that it identified the root cause of the issue and that it "is unrelated to Avid and its creative tools." The release says that Google confirmed that a Chrome update may have been shipped with a bug that damages files on macOS machines. Google has announced it is pausing its release, as well as provided instructions to affected users. Avid also reports that no data was lost by affected customers.

In the press release Rosica says: "Avid is pleased that the reboot issue facing some customers is solved and while Avid products are not the root cause, we're keeping an intense focus on bringing all of our customers back online and back to work. Over the past 36 hours, the deep dive of due diligence working closely with Apple, PACE and other partner exhausted all options and we've landed in the right place as quickly as possible. We owe our special thanks to Avid's customer and user community for their typically strong show of support at this time, especially to those who welcomed our engineers into their studios."

Apple has not commented yet. 

CUPERTINO, Calif.—The latest iPhone models revealed by Apple include a new pro line, the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, that offer a number of advanced features for capturing and displaying high-quality images.

Among the new features is a Super Retina XDR custom-designed OLED display, which provides an HDR viewing experience for videos with up to 1,200 nits of brightness. The display’s wide color support offers system-wide color management and True Tone, as well as a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio with true blacks.

The Pro models also come with the new A13 Bionic chip. The chip is designed for machine learning and features a faster Neural Engine for real-time photo and video analysis, along with new Machine Learning Accelerators. While adding these new features, the A13 also boosts battery life, providing the iPhone 11 Pro four more hours of battery life in a day than the iPhone Xs, while the iPhone 11 Pro Max has five more than the iPhone Xs Max.

A triple-camera system made up of ultra wide, wide and telephoto cameras are included to provide a pro-level camera experience. Each of the camera systems can record in 4K (up to 60 fps and 120 fps in slo-mo) with extended dynamic range and cinematic video stabilization. Users can zoom between each of the three cameras, while an Audio Zoom feature matches the audio to the video framing for dynamic sound. Via iOS 13, video editing tools are also accessible, including rotating, cropping, increasing exposure and applying filters instantly.

The phone’s camera system also features a redesigned camera interface. One of the new features of this redesign is QuickTake, which allows users to record video from without switching out of Photo mode by holding the shutter button.

Apple also says that the iPhone 11 Pro models feature the toughest glass ever used in a smartphone and are rated IP68 for water resistance up to 4 meters for up to 30 minutes.

Available in midnight green, space gray, silver and gold finishes, the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max models will be available for pre-order on Sept. 13 and available to the general public on Sept. 20 for $999 and $1,099, respectively.

CUPERTINO, Calif.—As a slate of new streaming services are set to be released in the coming months, Apple’s entry—the Apple TV+—will be the first on the market as the company has set its launch for Nov. 1 in more than 100 countries and at a monthly subscription price of $4.99.

In comparison to other hotly anticipated streaming services, Disney+ is scheduled to go live on Nov. 12 with a monthly subscription of $6.99/month in the U.S. (a combination of Disney-owned Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ will be available for $12.99/month). HBO Max and the planned NBC streaming service are likely eyeing 2020 releases and have yet to announce price information.

When Apple TV+ goes live, it will have a number of its original programming available for consumers, including the Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Ansiston and Steve Carell drama “The Morning Show”; the Jason Mamoa led “See”; Oprah Winfrey conversations with authors; and others like “Dickinson,” “For All Mankind,” “Helpsters,” “Snoopy in Space,” “Ghostwriter” and “The Elephant Queen.” More original programs will be released on the app each month.

At launch, most of the series will premiere with three episodes, with a new episode being released each week. Some series will have their full seasons made available right away.

Subscribers to the Apple TV+ streaming service will be able to watch content online and offline, ad-free and on-demand through the Apple TV app. In addition to certain Apple products and tv.apple.com, the Apple TV app is also going to be available on select Samsung smart TVs, and will eventually be available on Amazon Fire TV, LG, Roku, Sony and Vizio platforms. If added to the Up Next feature on the Apple TV app, viewers can also be notified when an original series premieres.

Apple has also announced that viewers can get a seven-day free trial of Apple TV+ before the $4.99 subscription kicks in, and a purchase of any iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod touch or Mac will also net a one-year subscription for free.

“Apple TV+ is an unprecedented global video service with an all-original slate,” said Jamie Erlicht, Apple’s head of Worldwide Video. “We look forward to giving audiences everywhere the opportunity to enjoy these compelling stories within a rich, personalized experience on all the screens they love.”

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Red’s patented process for compressing digital video so footage can remain as high-quality as possible, which is part of its Redcode codec, is coming under fire from Apple.

Apple filed a petition against the patent in May of this year, arguing that Red simply combined previously developed processes resulting in nothing novel, and therefore not protectable. This would allow for Apple—which currently has to pay a fee to Red to use the technology for its own ProRes Raw technology—and other companies to use the technology without paying a fee.

Red recently came back disputing Apple’s petition, saying that the process for its technology was first discussed in 2005 and developed for the Red One Cinema Camera in 2007.

Sony has previously attempted a similar lawsuit against Red in 2013, but it was defeated.

Read the full story at Digital Camera World.