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After months of litigation, hard feelings and angry tweets, Apple has announced a major change to its App Store developer programme. Instead of the standard 30 per cent fee that it has collected since the App Store launched in 2008, Apple will now collect just 15 per cent for most of the apps and games sold in the store. The terms of the new programme, which begins on 1 January 2021, are as follows: • Existing developers who made up to $1 million in 2020 for all of their apps, as well as developers new to the App Store, can qualify for the programme and the reduced commission. • If a participating developer surpasses the $1 million threshold, the standard commission rate will apply for the remainder of the year.…

Apple has announced the winners of its second-annual Music Awards. Last year’s inaugural awards were led by Billie Eilish, with a live concert at the Steve Jobs Theater. Thanks to the global COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s awards are not to be honoured in person. Instead, a ‘celebration’ will take place across Apple’s streaming services in December. THIS YEAR’S WINNERS The winners of the second-annual Apple Music awards are as follows. The Top Song of the Year and Top Album of the Year are based on streaming data, but the other three awards are selected by Apple Music’s editorial team. Artist of the year: Lil Baby Breakthrough Artist of the Year: Megan Thee Stallion Songwriter of the Year: Taylor Swift Top Song of the Year: The Box by Roddy Ricch Top…

The iPhone 12 is here, but YouTuber Hic Tech was so intrigued as to what was on the inside that he took the whole thing apart. Here are a few interesting titbits. The battery is extremely small: If you thought the iPhone 11’s 3011mAh battery was small, wait till you see the iPhone 12’s battery. According to the video, it’s just 2,815mAh, way smaller than the 4,000mAh battery inside the Galaxy S20 and other Android phones. Early benchmarks suggest that battery life is roughly the same as the iPhone 11 (and a couple of hours less when using 5G), but it’s still disappointing. The display is a lot thinner: The Super Retina XDR display is quite a bit thinner than the Liquid Retina HD display on the iPhone 11. That…

If you’ve bought a new iPhone 12, you know all about the new design, display, camera and iOS 14 enhancements, but there’s one new feature you might not have tried yet: MagSafe. Apple’s new charging system doesn’t quite work out of the box – you’ll need to pony up for some extra equipment to get it to work. Here’s where you should spend your money. CLEAR CASE WITH MAGSAFE Price: £49 from fave.co/2J9cmWP Should you buy it: If you want to show off your iPhone 12’s natural colour and still keep it in an Apple case, this is your only option. It’s a fine case in that it’s sturdy and should protect your phone from bumps and bruises, but it’s still very hard to remove, very easy to smudge, and…

Apple Arcade is a subscription service that lets users play premium iPad, iPhone, Mac and Apple TV games as often as they like for a set monthly fee. But which ones are worth your time? We test primarily on iPhone. We also strongly recommend that you get a hardware controller, given how many of the games benefit from one: we test with an Xbox controller and a Rotor Riot wired controller to see if this works and how well it suits the gameplay. Many games support Bluetooth controllers despite not mentioning this fact in their App Store description. 1. WHAT THE GOLF? This bizarre and genuinely funny sports sim – ‘Golf for people who hate golf’ – hits a hole in one for relentless ingenuity. The courses feature exploding…

Apple has been sentenced to pay an additional $113 million (around £85.1m) in damages following the high-profile Batterygate scandal, as per a report in the Washington Post. In short, Batterygate relates to Apple’s decision to deliberately slow down older mobile phones, without informing customers. According to Apple, the purpose of the change was to prevent the devices from shutting down prematurely due to worn out batteries, but that was not an explanation that was accepted by everyone. Last spring Apple chose to enter into a settlement in the case. At the time the company offered $25 each to affected Americans, which totalled $500 million (£421.1m). Apple apologized for the incident back in 2018 and offered replacement batteries at a discounted price. In addition, it has since made it possible for…

Price: £799 from fave.co/2URCCYp There used to be a theory that you should always order the second-cheapest wine on the menu, on the basis that it offers the best balance of value for money and not tasting awful. The second-cheapest wine on Apple’s menu this autumn is the iPhone 12, but is it vintage or has it corked? We evaluate the device’s camera performance, run speed, graphics and battery tests, discuss its new-look design and help you decide if this is right for you. DESIGN Since 2014, every iPhone except one (the original SE) has followed largely the same curvaceous design. But those days are over. The iPhone 12 is simultaneously groundbreaking and old-fashioned. Its square-edged design is strongly reminiscent of the iPhone 4, yet it combines this retro-feeling angular…

MagSafe might be an old name to Apple veterans, but it has a whole new purpose. Apple slipped a brand-new charging and modular accessory system into the iPhone 12, resurrecting the charging connector Apple retired when it switched to USB-C charging on the MacBook. But since Apple isn’t including a MagSafe connector or even a compatible power adapter in the iPhone 12 box, you probably have some questions about MagSafe. And depending on where you find the answers, they might not be all that accurate. So forget about what you’ve read: here’s the truth about MagSafe. MYTH: SPEEDS ARE TOO SLOW WITH A THIRD-PARTY CHARGER REALITY: AS LONG AS IT’S 20 WATTS OR HIGHER, IT DOESN’T REALLY MATTER WHICH CHARGER YOU USE Charging is tricky. Depending on the phone you…

Over the past few years wireless charging has gone from novelty concept to being a conventional function of any modern iPhone. We won’t pretend that wireless charging is always an ideal substitute for plugging in, but it’s a very hassle-free way to keep your phone topped off throughout the day. Freed from the bother of plugging and unplugging, a wireless charger on your desk is as good a place as any to set your phone, knowing the battery is being steadily replenished, and ready for your next outing. A wireless charger by your bed makes it easy to grab and go in the morning, or just to ‘check one thing’ without fussing with the lightning cable. We’ve tested a wide range of different wireless chargers. Here are our favourites. AIRPOWER…

I have seen the light. Or more specifically, I have seen the brightness, contrast and pixel density. After weeks of testing, I’m ready to declare the iPhone 12’s Full HD (1,920x1,080, or 1080p) screen just as good as the Note20 Ultra’s WQHD (2,560x1,440) one, if not better. Android phone makers have convinced us that we need 2K or higher screens to get the best viewing experience, but that’s just not the case. I don’t want to make this about Apple vs Android, but the fact of the matter is, we never needed displays with WQHD+ resolution. We simply wanted them – or rather, phone makers convinced us that we wanted them. Full HD displays have become relegated to budget Android phones as more emphasis is placed on immersive, edge-to-edge, pixel-packed…

Apple is exchanging AirPods Pro if they experience problems with the active noise cancellation not working or if you can hear a crackling sound. The tech giant has already published support documents addressing problems with the AirPods Pro making crackling or static sounds, or if the active noise cancellation does not work as expected. The company had advised in both cases that the user could clean the grille on the top of the AirPods Pro in case the active noise cancellation was being impaired by foreign objects or ear wax. However, if that fix doesn’t work, Apple has now launched a AirPods Pro Service Program for Sound Issues – see fave.co/3fo5ukm. Apple explains that it has found that a small percentage of AirPods Pro manufactured before October 2020 may experience…

Price: £1,099 from fave.co/2UPKVUA The iPhone 12 Pro Max is big. Just slightly taller and wider than the iPhone 11 Pro Max (which was already more than a handful), it is most certainly not for those who insist on one-handed operation. If you’re a big phone kind of person, you’ll probably find the Max version of the iPhone 12 Pro to be worth its £1,099 starting price. While its new camera is only a tiny bit better, the expansive display and incredible battery life make it worth every penny of its price premium. DESIGN The iPhone 12 Pro Max is essentially just a larger iPhone 12 Pro. It’s exactly the same phone in the same colours with the same thickness and style, same display, same A14 chip, same LiDAR, same…

After receiving Apple’s MagSafe Charger, we decided to test it out on, well, anything we could find. The results were a little surprising. While the handheld puck will charge most things that are enabled with Qi charging, we could only get a max of 5-watt speeds no matter which power adapter we connected to the MagSafe, including Apple’s new 20-watt charger. And some devices that we thought it could charge – like the Apple Watch, for example – wouldn’t. The MagSafe Charger was actually able to stick to some Android phones, including the Galaxy Note20 Ultra and Pixel 5. There must be something magnetic inside those phones. The connection wasn’t anywhere near as sturdy or clicky as Apple promises the one with the iPhone 12 will be – in fact,…

Price: £99 from fave.co/39aysmW Apple’s HomePod smart speaker is widely admired – for its attractive design and exceptional audio quality, if not for the sophistication of its smart features – but many potential buyers are put off by its price tag. At £279 the 2018 HomePod is a serious purchase. This year Apple has come up with a solution: a smaller and cheaper mini edition of the HomePod, which costs a vastly more budget-friendly £99. But is this a compromise too far? What corners have been cut to hit that price point? We’ve been trying out a pair of minis for around a week, and our HomePod mini review reports on their design and portability, audio quality, ease of use and smart features. We’ll help you decide if this is…