Apple Will Replace Faulty iPhone XS/XR Battery Cases For Free

Apple has launched a replacement program for iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR battery cases manufactured between January 2019 and October 2019. It will replace cases that won't charge or only charges intermittently when plugged in, as well as cases don't properly charge. 

Apple's battery cases cost around $130 each, so you may want to take advantage of the program while you can. Apple says it will replace cases up to two years from their date of sale. Apple says the program isn't related to a safety issue.

Apple Releases Smart Battery Cases For iPhone XS, XS Max And XR

Apple has released three Smart Battery Cases for the iPhone Xr, Xs, and Xs Max. All are available in black or white and cost $129.

According to Apple, the XR case offers 22 hours of Internet user, 27 hours of video, or 33 hours of phone call time. The iPhone XS case adds up to 21 hours of Internet use, 25 hours of video, or 33 hours of talk time. The XS Max model purportedly gives you 20 hours of Internet, 25 hours of video, and 37 hours of phone talk.

Apple To Address The ‘BeautyGate’ Issue With iOS 12.1

Apple will address “beautygate” issues with the upcoming release of iOS 12.1, according to The Verge.

“Beautygate” involves complaints about excessive smoothing in photos shot with the front-facing camera on the iPhone Xs and Xs Max, which can make images seem fake or even out of focus. The Verge says this should be fixed in iOS 12.1, which will pick the sharpest base frame for the HDR merge when taking selfies.

Apple Releases iOS 12.0.1 With iPhone Xs Fixes And More

Apple has released iOS 12.0.1. To access the update on eligible devices, go to Settings --> General --> Software Update. The upgrade includes the following:

• Fixes an issue where some iPhone Xs devices did not immediately charge when connected to a Lightning cable;
  
• Resolves an issue that could cause iPhone Xs devices to rejoin a Wi-Fi network at 2.4GHz instead of 5GHz;
  
• Restores the original position of the “.?123″ key on the iPad keyboard;
  
• Fixes an issue where subtitles may not appear in some video apps;
  
• Addresses an issue where Bluetooth could become unavailable.
  

Here’s Everything You Need To Know About The iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max

During Apple’s keynote, the company introduced the iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max, which feature Super Retina displays, a faster and improved dual camera system, the first 7-nanometer chip in a smartphone, the A12 Bionic chip with next-generation Neural Engine, faster Face ID, wider stereo sound and a new gold finish. They also introduce Dual SIM to the iPhone.

The iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max build on the all-screen design of iPhone X and feature the sharpest displays with the highest pixel density of any Apple device. Now offered in 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch sizes, these Super Retina displays with a custom OLED design support Dolby Vision and HDR10 and have iOS system-wide color management for the best color accuracy in the industry.

The iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max offer a million-to-one contrast ratio with remarkable brightness and true black range with 60% greater dynamic range in HDR pics. The iPhone Xs Max delivers a more immersive experience with over 3 million pixels for videos, movies and games, offering the largest display ever in an iPhone in a footprint similar to iPhone 8 Plus.

A surgical grade stainless steel band now in gold joins finishes in silver and space gray. Wider stereo playback creates a more immersive soundstage, according to Schiller. The front and back glass design features the most durable glass ever in a smartphone with improved scratch resistance, while the glass back enables faster wireless charging.

The iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max reach a new level of splash and water resistance of IP68 for up to 2 meters for 30 minutes and protect against everyday spills including coffee, tea and soda.

The Apple-designed A12 Bionic features the first 7-nanometer chip ever in a smartphone that delivers industry-leading performance in a more power-efficient design, Schiller says. A12 Bionic features a six-core fusion architecture with two performance cores that are up to 15% faster, four efficiency cores that are up to 50% more efficient, a four-core GPU that is up to 50% faster, powerful Apple-designed Image Signal Processor (ISP), video encoder and more. 

A fast storage controller can deliver iPhone storage up to 512GB.  Even with all this power, iPhone Xs offers 30 minutes longer than iPhone X, and iPhone Xs Max offers an hour and a half longer than iPhone X, between charges.

The 12-megapixel dual camera system features dual optical image stabilization with 2x optical zoom, while a new sensor is twice as fast. Smart HDR creates photos with more highlights and shadow detail. Larger and deeper pixels improve image fidelity and low-light performance.

Advanced depth segmentation in Portrait mode enables more sophisticated portraits with professional-level bokeh. New Depth Control allows users to dynamically adjust the depth of field in the Photos app both in real-time preview3 and post-capture to create portraits with a background blur. Portrait mode with Depth Control is also available on the TrueDepth camera for selfies, which includes Memoji and faster face tracking support for third-party ARKit apps.

The iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max deliver the highest quality video capture in a smartphone. The larger pixels and larger, faster sensor enable improved low-light performance and video stabilization, as well as extended dynamic range for more highlight and shadow detail in video modes up to 30 frames per second. Using the four built-in mics, users can also record stereo sound to get the most out of video recordings. iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max introduce Gigabit-class LTE for even faster download speeds4 and Dual SIM through the use of a nano-SIM and digital eSIM.

The iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max will be available in 64GB, 256GB and 512GB capacity models in space gray, silver and a new gold finish starting at $999 and $1,099, respectively, from apple.com, in the Apple Store app and Apple Stores, and is also available through Apple Authorized Resellers and select carriers.

Customers will be able to pre-order iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max beginning Friday, September  14, with availability beginning Friday, September 21, in more than 30 countries and territories including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the UAE, UK, US and US Virgin Islands.

The iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max will be available in more than 25 countries and territories including Andorra, Armenia, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, India, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Monaco, Oman, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia and South Africa beginning Friday, September  28.