New versions of the iPhone and iPad are now available from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). At its launch event last week, the company said that iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 would be available on Monday, September 20, and so it is.
There’s no suspense because Apple revealed at its Worldwide Developer Conference in June what was coming in iOS 15. The biggest change allows iPhone owners to start FaceTime calls with smartphones running the Android or Windows operating systems. FaceTime also gets support for Apple’s spatial audio.
iMessage gets an update, including new sharing features, and Apple Maps has been updated with a host of new features, including an augmented reality (AR) feature. Apple Wallet has been upgraded to store a digital driver’s license. Arizona and Georgia will be the first of eight states to roll out the digital driver’s licenses for Apple Wallet. The other six are Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma and Utah.
The iOS upgrade will work on iPhones purchased in the past six years. CNET has a complete list of compatible iPhones and iPads.
At Sunday’s Emmy awards ceremony, Apple won its first-ever awards. “Ted Lasso” won seven, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
In addition to the awards for “Ted Lasso,” Apple won awards for Outstanding Documentary or Short Series (“Boys State”); Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series (“Carpool Karaoke: The Series”); Outstanding Innovation in Interactive Media (“For All Mankind: Time Capsule” and “For All Mankind”); and Outstanding Motion Design (“Calls”).
In its press release, Apple noted that its Apple TV+ streaming service’s wins after just two years of eligibility is the fastest dash to the podium for a streaming service.
According to Reuters, Netflix won a total of 44 Emmys, tying a record set in 1974 by the CBS broadcast network. HBO and HBO Max won 19 Emmys, the second-highest total, and Disney+ won 13.
On a less upbeat note, Tom’s Guide reported Sunday that two law firms have filed class-action lawsuits against Apple related to screen cracks that appear on MacBook Aire M1 and MacBook Pro M1 laptops, allegedly without any mishandling of the devices. According to one of the law firms, users have opened their machines “without applying any undue pressure, only to find dramatic cracks in the retina display, often accompanied by black bars running across the screen.”
The other law firm is more forceful: “The M1 MacBook is defective, as the screens are extraordinarily fragile, cracking, blacking out, or showing magenta, purple and blue lines and squares, or otherwise ceasing to function altogether.”
Apple has so far declined to repair or replace the screens, a job that one law firm claims cost between $600 and $850 or more out of pocket.
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