As found in some durability tests, the black iPhone 5’s back tends to scratch much easier than its glass-backed iPhone 4/4S predecessors. However, the aluminum back obviously stands up to drops much better than glass. When given the option, I would probably take the scratches. Any aluminum product may scratch or chip with use, exposing its natural silver color. That is normal. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OSFKVq36Hgc] We can also confirm Schiller is up and answering customer emails at 6:13 a....

In a press release, Apple has announced it is opening a new development office in Hyderabad, India. The team located here will apparently focus on improving Apple Maps, which is deeply integrated across Apple’s hardware and software as dedicated apps and embedded in other services, like Siri. The new center will create up to 4000 new jobs in the local economy. It is currently unclear as to the nature of the workforce, as Apple has preferred to keep its core software engineering team in California with most working solely in Cupertino....

Alongside today’s expected new iMac updates, Apple has announced a trio of new input devices for desktops: the Magic Trackpad 2, Magic Mouse 2, and Magic Keyboard. The new keyboard and trackpad have an updated design to accommodate improved keys on the keyboard and Force Touch on the trackpad, while the mouse has been redesigned internally. All three devices work on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that juice up via a standard USB Lightning cable:...

Apple this evening has given its Certified Refurbished Online Store a visual overhaul. The new site design features larger images, easier navigation between various categories, and more. This new design seems to have gone live sometime this week. Up until today, Apple’s refurbished store was anything but visually appealing, skipping many of the more modern design trends that have come to other parts of Apple’s website over recent years. The homepage of the new Certified Refurbished Online Store features a large banner along the top, with Apple saying its refurbished products come with “guaranteed Apple quality....

Apple today has updated the Apple Music beta app for Android with a pair of notable features from iOS 13. With today’s update, Android users can now take advantage of Dark Mode in Apple Music, as well as time-synced lyrics. Today’s update to the Apple Music beta app brings it to version 3.0.0. It is only available to Google Group beta testers, but expect it to launch publicly alongside iOS 13 in the fall....

Following the release of iOS 13.6.1 last week, Apple today has stopped signing iOS 13.6. That means users can no longer downgrade from iOS 13.6.1 to iOS 13.6. Reverting to older iOS builds is common for those with jailbroken devices and can sometimes also be helpful for users who experience significant bugs after upgrading to the latest version of iOS. According to Apple, iOS 13.6.1 fixes some known issues related to the Exposure Notifications and another one that could make the displays exhibit a green tint....

Apple today has officially announced the rebrand of iTunes Connect. As we speculated earlier this week, Apple confirmed on its developer blog this afternoon that it is rebranding iTunes Connect to App Store Connect. App Store Connect offers all of the same functionality as iTunes Connect, and includes a brand new iOS app that makes the entire process of uploading, submitting, and managing applications easier. App Store Connect allows developers to manage their applicants, view sales reports, access app analytics, invite users to test apps with TestFlight, get performance insights, and much more....

Update: The stores appear to be back online now, and while the China/Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand stores have access to Red Friday deals, the others don’t. As for discounts, most products, including iPads, MacBooks, and iMacs appear to be on sale for in between 5% and 10% off. For everyone else, 9to5 readers can still get some of the best prices on Macs in the U.S. through our discount code at MacMall....

Apple’s music publishing head Elena Segal has confirmed what had already seemed very likely: that there will never be an Apple Music free tier. Segal made the statement at a British government hearing into the economics of music streaming, investigating whether artists are paid enough. Segal said there were two reasons that it wouldn’t be the right approach for Apple… Musically reports that Segal said it wouldn’t make sense economically, and Apple is fundamentally opposed to ad-supported services....

Apple News has started accepting questions for the upcoming Democratic debate in New Hampshire this week. As previously reported, Apple News is teaming up with ABC and WMUR-TV, a local ABC affiliate, for the debate — and part of that arrangement includes deep integration with Apple News. From the Apple News app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you can submit a question you’d like to ask the candidates. The submission is done via email, with emails being sent to the ABC News Political Unit....

At WWDC this year, Apple announced a variety of new ways for developers to test StoreKit functionality in Xcode and iOS 14. In a new post on the Apple Developer website, Apple informs developers that the enhancements to sandbox testing are widely available. Apple explains that developers can test in-app purchases on devices using product details set up in App Store Connect. For instance, this includes things like upgrades, downgrades, and cancellations for subscriptions....

Good news, bad news in Japan, where Apple climbed from seventh to fifth place in Japan’s cellphone market for the first time, boosted by its well-received iPhone 4 in the July-September period, local reports claim. Apple took 12.2 percent of Japan’s cellphone sales, with Sharp leading the pack at just 18.8 percent, according to IDC. Apple achieved 1.06 million iPhone shipments in the quarter, a quarter during which Japan’s cellphone biz saw 8....

Apple may shift a larger portion of iPhone production to Pegatron, in order to comply with the iPhone sales ban injunction announced by a Chinese court on Monday. According to a report from Nikkei, iPhones assembled by Foxconn and Wistron are in infringement of Qualcomm patents … but Pegatron-produced iPhones are not (Qualcomm confirmed Pegatron is exempt). Pegatron has a patent licensing agreement in place with Qualcomm that covers the two patents at the center of the ban....

During this year’s WWDC keynote address, Apple surprised pro users with a look at a completely redesigned version of the Mac Pro, a machine many thought had long been abandoned by the company. At the time, the only availability information that was available was an ambiguous “shipping by December,” though Apple recently gave a more specific release date: today. After about an hour of downtime, the Apple Online Store has come back up with the option to order the latest-generation Mac Pro....

Apple has an Indoor Survey app on the iOS App Store, designed to help pinpoint locations inside a store, restaurant or other business – but it doesn’t show up in a search, and you need to register in Apple Maps Connect to download it. By dropping “points” on a map within the Survey App, you indicate your position within the venue as you walk through. As you do so, the indoor Survey App measures the radio frequency (RF) signal data and combines it with an iPhone’s sensor data....

Apple has hired Josh Elman, a former venture capitalist at Greylock Partners, to work on the App Store with a specific focus on app discovery. Elman announced his new role on Twitter this afternoon, saying that he is “excited to get to build ways to help over a billion customers and millions of developers connect.” As Bloomberg explains, Elman led early investments in Discord as well as the precursor to TikTok during his time as a venture capitalist at Greylock Partners....

Apple this week has greatly expanded the availability of its Apple ID two-step verification, bringing the feature from 11 countries to 59 countries. Two-step verification for Apple IDs uses either iOS’s Find my iPhone application or SMS to provide login verification in addition to a password. The feature first rolled out for both Apple ID and iCloud IDs in early 2013 and it expanded to a few more countries later that year....

Update: Kapeli’s developer updated his blog post today indicating that Apple found evidence of App Store review manipulation, something the developer denies ever doing. This decision is final and Apple will not allow for an appeal. Phill Schiller has also responded (after the jump) … For unknown reasons, the developer account associated with popular developer app Dash, a utility tool providing offline API documentation, has been terminated by Apple. Consequently, both Dash apps for iOS and macOS have been pulled from the respective App Stores, crippling the developer’s business model in an instant without any explanation....

Rita Lane, Apple’s vice president of operations for the iPad, Mac desktops, and Mac accessories, has retired from the company, according to her public LinkedIn profile. As vice president of operations, Lane was in charge of the supply chain and manufacturing for iPads, computers like the iMac, and Apple’s Mac accessories. Due to her position, Lane was likely instrumental in the iPad’s rapid growth as a product and emergence in society over the past few years, making the departure a significant loss for Apple....

Some of you noticed the Apple online store was down briefly this morning, but now the website is live again with some welcomed tweaks to the shopping experience. Now, when visiting the store.apple.com, users are presented with a new scrolling navigation bar for each product category (as pictured above). The most notable aspect of the change is that the new menu is touch-friendly on iOS devices, allowing users on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch to swipe to scroll through the list....