Here is the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max availability information for the morning of September 15th, 2018. This is information from approximately 28 hours after pre-orders opened up. There have been a couple of changes, all of the changes being a slipping of availability for delivery by a week

As a note, availability information is not currently available from T-mobile. However, information from the other three carriers AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon, is available.

Changes for Apple

• Sim-Free - 64GB Silver iPhone XS has changed from Sep 21 to 1-2 weeks
• Sim-Free - 64GB Gold iPhone XS has changed from Sep 21 to 1-2 weeks

Changes for the Carriers

• Verizon - 64GB Silver iPhone XS Max has changed from 10-03-2018 to 10-10-2018
• Verizon - 256GB Silver iPhone XS Max has changed from 09-21-2018 to 10-03-2018
• Verizon - 64GB Space Gray iPhone XS Max has changed from 10-03-2018 to 10-10-2018

Here is the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max availability information for the evening of September 14th, 2018. This is information from approximately 15 hours after pre-orders opened up. There have been a couple of changes, all of the changes being a slipping of availability for delivery.

As a note, availability information is not currently available from T-mobile. However, information from the other three carriers AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon, is available.

Changes for Apple

• AT&T - 64GB Silver iPhone XS has changed from Sep 21 to 1-2 weeks
• AT&T - 256GB Gold iPhone XS has changed from Sep 21 to 1-2 weeks
• AT&T - 64GB Space Gray iPhone XS has changed from Sep 21 to 1-2 weeks
• T-Mobile - 512GB Gold iPhone XS has changed from Sep 21 to 1-2 weeks
• Verizon - 512GB Silver iPhone XS has changed from Sep 21 to 1-2 weeks
• Verizon - 64GB Gold iPhone XS has changed from Sep 21 to 1-2 weeks
• Verizon - 256GB Gold iPhone XS has changed from Sep 21 to 1-2 weeks
• Sim-Free - 64GB Silver iPhone XS Max has changed from Sep 21 to 1-2 weeks
• Sim-Free - 256GB Silver iPhone XS Max has changed from Sep 21 to 1-2 weeks
• Sim-Free - 64GB Space Gray iPhone XS Max has changed from Sep 21 to 1-2 weeks

For the past few years I have been doing iPhone availability posts. I post these to allow you to see a snapshot of availability for the the iPhone. It is designed to help you quickly glance and it is used as a resource for others. For the time being the availability will only cover the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. In October, once the iPhone XR is available for pre-order, it will incorporate those as well.

Outside of this first post, I will not generally post them to all of my social media profiles. There is one exception, my @waynedixonfeed account on twitter will have them. That feed is used to show all of my posts, so you can easily see the latest availability post in that feed. If you know someone who would benefit from seeing the availability, let them know about it.

Here is the iPhone Availability for the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. This is as off 8:00am central time, on September 14th, 2018. Just six hours after the new phones have been available for pre-order.

There is still time to pre-order my iOS 12 e-book: iOS 12, tvOS 12, and watchOS 5 for Users and Developers. It is available on for $3.99. It will be released on September 17th.

Today Apple held their September "Gather Round" event. As expected, Apple released unveiled new products. But for only two product lines, the Apple Watch and the iPhone. Let us start with the Apple Watch.

Apple Watch

The Apple Watch was introduced four years ago in September of 2014 and released in April fo 2015. In the interim releases additional features have been added and they have all fit into the same physical sizes of 38mm and 42mm. The Apple Watch Series 3 added a cellular option. The latest version, the Apple Series 4, offers a whole new look.

Externals

The Apple Watch Series 4 starts with two new screen sizes, 40mm and 44mm. The screens now go edge to edge, and the bezels have been reduced to allow you to see more on the screen at one time. This is because the new screen sizes have over 30% more physical screen. While the screens are bigger, the Apple Watch Series 4 is thinner, by 0.7mm. Your existing Apple Watch bands will still work with the Series 4. Along with the screens, the Digital Crown has been modified to include haptic feedback, which will help you know when an action is taken.

Watch Faces

With the redesign of the screen the Apple Watch faces have also changed. There is a new "Breathe" watch face that comes in three variations that will allow you to simply tap on the watch face and start a "Breathing" session. Besides the new "Breathe" watch face there is another new watch face that will allow you to have up to eight complications on it at once. This allows you to see the information that you want to see, all at a glance. This includes added people's faces to the watch face which you will be able to contact them with one tap.

The Modular Watch face, which is the one I use most often, is also getting redesigned to allow more information to be shown from stocks, weather, and other sources. The ability to customize the Apple Watch face even more than you could before will help the Apple Watch become an even more personalized device.

Internals

The outsides have been redesigned, but so have the internals. The Apple Watch Series 4 now sports a 64-bit dual-core S4 processor, which is 2x faster than the previous S3. The Apple Watch has been equipped with a heart sensor since its introduction, but there is a second generation heart sensor, which can perform more measurements. This includes when your blood pressure is too low.

The biggest improvement though is the ability to have the Apple Watch Series 4 take an electrocardiogram reading. This is done by starting up the ECG app and placing your finger on the Digital Crown. This will create an electrical loop which will allow the app to gather the necessary data. You can then take the information and send it to your doctor in a PDF format. The ECG app has been approved by the Federal Drug Administration, who is in charge of any medical devices and their claims. It should be noted that the ECG app is coming later this year.

One other area of improvement is the accelerometer. The Accelerometer and gyroscope in the Apple Watch Series 4 has been improved to be able to detect 32 g-forces, which is up from 16 g-forces on the Series 3. This improvement allows for a new motion detection, falling. It is bound to happen to us at one time or another. In a majority of cases the only outcome is the embarrassment when it happens with others around. However, in the event that it is more serious, the Apple Watch Series 4 will be able to do more than just detect the fall. If you do fall and there has not been any movement for over a minute, the Apple Watch Series 4 will automatically contact emergency services. Along with this the emergency contacts will also be notified. It is not a feature that anybody wants to have to use, but in the event it is needed it will be a very welcome change.

Colors, Materials and Pricing

The Apple Watch Series 4 comes in two models, a GPS-only model, and a GPS + Cellular. The GPS Model comes in an aluminum finish and can be Silver, Space Gray, or Gold. The GPS + Cellular comes in aluminum or stainless steel. It is also in the same colors, Silver, Space Gray, and Gold. The Gold on the stainless steel model is a slightly different shade of gold. The Nike+ version is only available in Silver and Space Gray and is aluminum only. The Hermes version is in stainless steel only.

The Series 4 starts at $399 for the 40mm GPS only model, the 44mm model is $429. The aluminum GPS + Cellular is $499 and $529 respectively. The Stainless Steel is $699 for the 40mm and $$749 for the 44mm with a sport band. If you go with the Milanese Loop the price goes to $799 and $849 respectively. The Stainless Steel model is GPS + Cellular only. The Nike+ models are also $399 for the GPS only model and $499 for the GPS + Cellular. The Hermes version starts at $1,249 and goes up to $1,499.

The Apple Watch Series 3 remains and is now $279 for the 38mm, and $309 for the 42mm. If you want the GPS + Cellular version, that will cost $379 and $409 respectively. You can buy the Apple Watch Series at the new lower prices right now.

Pre-orders for the Apple Watch Series 4 start on Friday, September 14th at 12:01am Pacific Time. It will be available on September 21st. Now, let us look at the iPhones.

iPhone

Last year Apple showed off a whole new interaction method with the iPhone X. The iPhone X removed the home button which also replaced Touch ID with Face ID. Many speculated that the iPhone X This year Apple is bringing Face ID to even more of the iPhone line up. Instead of the two new phones that were introduced last year, there are now three new phones, the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR.

Displays

Last year when Apple introduced the iPhone X, it was not certain how well it would be received, given the radical redesign. The screen of the iPhone X was larger than the screen on the iPhone 8 Plus, and it was still physically smaller. The screen size on the iPhone X is 5.8 inches. This year there is a replacement for the iPhone X, the iPhone XS, pronounced "Ten S". It is still sporting a 5.8-inch screen and it is still OLED, which means the colors will be as good as ever. That is not all. The iPhone XS also now has a bigger brother, the iPhone XS Max. The iPhone XS Max sports a 6.5-inch OLED display.

The all new iPhone XR has a 6.1-inch LCD display. However, it is also

The screen resolutions for the models are 2436 by 1125, at 458 pixels per inch, for the iPhone X, 2688 by 1242 at 458 pixels per inch, for the iPhone XS Max. The iPhone XR on the other hand is 1792 by 828 pixels, at 326 pixels per inch.

All of the iPhone have True Tone displays, the Wide Color Gamut (Display P3), and a Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating. Now, let us look at the internals.

Internals

All three of the new iPhones have an A12 Bionic chip, which is up to 50% faster than the A11, in CPU tasks and 15x faster with Graphics while being 40% more efficient.

The iPhones also has a new Face ID system, which is faster. This is due to the faster storage and even faster secure enclave. There is also an upgraded Neural Network chip. The iPhone XS Neural Network chip houses 8 processors. Last year it was able to process 600 Billion transactions per second. The A12 version is capable of handling 5 Trillion operations per second. The A12 Neural network is capable of performing real-time machine learning with CoreML and through applications. This ability will also work well within Augmented Reality applications by allowing real-time updating of information.

Cameras

The iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max have an improved camera system. The new camera includes Dual 12MP wide-angle and telephoto cameras, Wide-angle with a ƒ/1.8 aperture, a Telephoto lens with a ƒ/2.4 aperture with Dual optical image stabilization. There is a new feature as well, called Smart HDR.

Smart HDR will take more than just the four images that HDR takes. Instead it will take an additional interleaved set of images, and one additional image. These nine images will then be processed to find the best composite image and will provide you even better quality images. To go with Smart HDR, you can also use the new "Advanced bokeh effect". The advanced bokeh effect will allow you to change the depth information for a portrait photo after the photo is taken to show the just the right amount of background.

By contrast, the iPhone XR has a single camera lens. But it still sports many of the same features. These include a 12MP wide-angle camera with an ƒ/1.8 aperture, Smart HDR, Portrait Mode with advanced bokeh effect, Optical image stabilization, and much more.

The Face ID Camera has also been improved. It is still a 7 megapixel camera, but it can now support 1080p HD video recording at 30 fps or 60 fps.

Dual Sim

One area where the iPhone has not been as advanced as other phones is when it comes to having multiple SIMs. This year, the phones all have Dual-SIM support. Dual-sim support is great if you need to have multiple phone lines, but want to use the same physical phone. This could be having one number for personal and another one for work. Another possibility is when you are traveling. You may want to keep your home phone number but may also want to have one for the local country. The capability for Dual-SIMs is made possible through the use of a physical SIM as well as an eSIM, which has been present in the iPads.

iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR will be able to differentiate between the two lines. And you can even label them to your liking so you can easily see who is calling and be able to answer appropriately. There is a special model for China that will have two physical SIMs.

Differences

There are some differences between the iPhone XS/XS Max and the iPhone XR. For instance, the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max are made out of stainless steel, where the iPhone XR is aluminum. The iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max are rated at IP68, which means that it can be submerged at 2 meters for 30 minutes without causing issues. The iPhone XR on the other hand is rated as IP67, which means it can be submerged at 1 meter for 30 minutes without issue. The last change is that the iPhone XR does not have 3D Touch, which for those users who are used to it may be an issue.

Like last year the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max come in three colors, Silver and Space Gray. There is also an additional color, Gold. This contrasts with the iPhone XR which has six different colors, Yellow, White, Coral, Black, Blue, and (PRODUCT) Red.

Storage and Pricing

The iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max come in 64GB, 256GB, and 512GB models. The pricing for the iPhone XS is $999, $1149, and $1349 respectively, while the iPhone XS Max is $1099, $1249, and $1449, respectively. Pre-orders for the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max start at 12:01 am Pacific on September 14th, and they will be available on September 21st.

The iPhone XR comes in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB Models. The pricing is $749, $799, and $899 respectively. The pre-orders for the iPhone XR start on October 19th, and will be available on October 26th.

Entire iPhone Lineup

With the introduction of new models, some older models have shifted in terms of price. The new lineup is the iPhone 7/7 Plus, iPhone 8/8 Plus, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max. The iPhone 7 comes in 32GB for $449, and 128GB for $549. The iPhone 8 is $599 for the 64GB and $749 for the 256GB.

AppleCare

Apple's iPhones have always had an option to add AppleCare to them. This warranty protects you from accidental damage and allows you to get it fixed for two years. This also includes hardware and software support. There is a new option, "AppleCare+ with Theft and Loss". This is, as one might expect, more expensive. It includes all of the AppleCare+ offerings, but also provides you with protection against theft and loss. There is one additional payment option for AppleCare+, you can pay for it monthly instead of all up front. This may help some people be able to afford the iPhone and pay for the warranty over time. This is available on all iPhones. Here are the AppleCare+ Costs:

iOS 12 and HomePod

iOS 12 will be released on September 17th and is a free update for all users. On the same day, the HomePod will also get an update which will allow you to do a couple of new things. The first is to make and take phone calls directly on your HomePod. Along wit this you will also be able to start multiple timers on the HomePod, which will be great for some users. The last new feature is the ability to ping your devices from the HomePod to help locate them in the house.

Closing Thoughts

Even though Apple's September event focused on only two products, the Apple Watch and the iPhone. The Apple Watch has seen its biggest set of improvements to date with the Apple Watch Series 4. This includes as a set of larger screens, redesigned watch faces, and a set of new sensing capabilities. The ability to get an ECG right from the Watch and then being able to send it to your doctor will help many users. What could also help save lives is detecting a low blood pressure situation. The biggest of all though is the new fall detection. In the case that you do fall, if you do not get up within a minute, the Apple Watch will contact emergency services and your emergency contacts, so that you will be able to get the assistance you need.

The new iPhone lineup is one that has something for everyone. All of the new iPhones sport the A12 Bionic processor, edge-to-edge screen, the faster Face ID, faster graphics, processor, and the new Neural Engine and the inclusion of advanced bokeh effect with depth effect control.

While there are differences between the iPhone XR, and the iPhone XS models, they are minor differences. These include the iPhone XR being made out of aluminum instead of stainless steel like the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, and IP67 for the iPhone XR and IP68 for the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. Additionally, the iPhone XR coms in six colors, and the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max only comes in three colors.

The inclusion of the iPhon XR shows that all future iPhones will have edge-to-edge bezels and are definitely the future of the iPhone.

On August 30th, Apple Announced that they would be holding their September event. This year's event is titled "Gather Round". As with the other Apple events, I offer up my predictions. Unlike other events, the September event is somewhat easier to guess what will be announced. Here are my guesses.

iPhone

Ever since 2011, with the release of the iPhone 4s, Apple has been releasing iPhones at their fall event. In 2011, it was October. Since the iPhone 5, it has been September. This year is likely no different. I am thinking there will be three new iPhones released. These will be the replacement for the iPhone X, a larger model, and the oft rumored 6.1-inch LCD model.

I am guessing that all three of these models will have the same general design as the iPhone X. This means that there will be very small bezels as well as Touch ID being replaced with Face ID.

Naming

The one thing that is always difficult to guess is the naming. For a majority of iPhone releases, there have been two cycles for names. iPhone 3G, 3GS, iPhone 4, 4s, iPhone 5, 5s, and iPhone 6, 6s. There was no iPhone 7s, because the iPhone 8 was announced last year instead. I have no idea what they will call these phones, so this is merely a wild guess. I am going to guess that the two OLEd models will be called the iPhone Xs. At the same time, the LCD model will be called the iPhone Xc.

I give the likelihood of the iPhone X replacement and a larger one at 100%, while I give the probability of the 6.1-inch LCD model being released at 90%. I give the probability of the naming at 50% for each name.

Apple Watch

The Apple Watch, released in 2015, and unlike the other iOs-based devices, it has remained largely unchanged since its release, at least physically. The Apple Watch Series 3 did get slightly thicker, but only by a millimeter.

I predict that the Apple Watch Series 4 will be released and it will be significantly redesigned. It is my guess that it will have less bezel and have a more edge-to-edge screen, yet it will have the same physical size of the watch.. With less bezel, the screen itself will be larger. The fact that the screen is bigger, means that that there is more area to put the battery. The Apple Watch Series 3 has plenty of battery life to last through an entire day, so it is not my guess that the battery life will increase. Actually, my guess is that at it will remain the same battery life, but the bigger screen will let the battery be thinner. This will result in the watch being thinner, which will be a welcome change for users.

I give the likelihood of a new Apple Watch being announced at 100%, with the screen having less bezel at 85%. My guess is that battery life remains the same at 75%, and the Apple Watch Series 4 being thinner at 90%.

HomePod

The HomePod is Apple's latest iOs-based accessory, and is less than a year old. The HomePod has been available for just about seven months and it is likely to see an update, to iOS 12. The one feature it will likely include is Siri Shortcut support, in particular for third-party apps.

I give the likelihood of a software update for the HomePod at 95%.

iPads

It would not be unprecedented for Apple to announce the release of new iPads. Apple released the current iPads at last year's WWDC keynote. It is possible that they will release new ones, however it is also possible that they will not. If Apple does announce new iPads, here is what I think they will have.

My guess is that the iPad Pros are the only ones that will be updated, since the 9.7-inch iPad was updated in March. The new iPad Pros will have reduced bezel, with no Touch ID but instead will have Face ID. I think the screen sizes will remain the same, at 10.5 inches and 12.9-inches. The reduced bezels means the the physical size of the iPad devices will be smaller, which will allow easier handling.

It is also possible that the new iPads will remain the same physical size, but the screens will be a bit larger. If this is the case, the current 12.9-inch iPad would end up being approximately 14.5 inches. It would be great to actually have an even larger iPad, but within the same physical form factor.

I give the probability of new iPad Pros at 60%, because there is already a lot of stuff in the keynote. If iPads Pros are announced, I give the likelihood of them having Face ID at 100%, reduced bezels at 95%, and being the same physical size at 50%, and retaining the same screen size at 50%.

Accessories

Apple sells many accessories for their iOS-based devices. One product that was announced but has not been released is the AirPower mat. In case you do not remember, the AirPower Mat is supposed to allow you to charge three devices simultaneously. The ones that Apple showed are an iPhone, the AirPods, with a different case, and the Series 3 Apple Watch. The AirPods were supposed to be usable with a different case, which would be sold separately, but has not yet been made available. The Apple Watch has always had inductive charging, so it

I give the likelihood of Apple announcing that the AirPower Mat being available at 75%, a new set of AirPods at 35%, and a new AirPods case at 95%, provided the AirPower Mat is released.

Macs

It is possible that Apple will announce new Macs, however, the keynote is already a bit full, and it is likely that the new Macs would warrant some additional time than just a few minutes. So it is my guess that the likelihood of new Macs being announced at 5%. I rally do think that thy will need their own event, or at least press releases, or journalist meetings.

Recap

So let us recap my predictions. These are ordered in highest percentage to lowest percentage.

Those are all of my predictions. We will know all about what Apple announces on Wednesday, September 12th at 10:00 am Pacific Time.

And while you wait for the keynote, you can pre-order my iOS 12 e-book for $3.99.

As has been the case since 2012 Apple has been holding its iPhone event in September. This year is no exception. Today Apple has sent out invitations for their September Event. This year's event is on September 12th. It will be held at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Campus 2. As with most Apple events, this one is at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. It will be streamed, so you can watch it live.

I will be posting my predictions for what we might see sometime closer to the event date, so stay tuned.

Today Apple pushed out a firmware update for the 2012 AirPort Express. The current version is 7.8. This firmware adds support for AirPlay 2. AirPlay 2 was added with iOS 11.4.1 and will allow you to stream the same audio to multiple rooms, or stream multiple items to different speakers. The latest firmware allows you to use the AirPort Express as an AirPlay 2 destination.

It is important to note that this only applies to the 2012 AirPort Express, which supports 802.11n networking. This does not apply to the original AirPort Express. If the back of your AirPort Express looks like the one below, it will be able to support AirPlay 2.

In order to update, you will need to use the AirPort Utility to perform the update on your AirPort Express.

Even though Apple discontinued the AirPort line as of April, they are still supporting it for a few more years. It may not get many updates, but it is nice to see it getting some additional features.

Source: MacObserver via David Chartier.

When Twitter launched about 12 years ago, it started off as an SMS-based service. Soon after its launch it became a website and it took off at becoming used by many members at South by Southwest (SXSW). The early users of Twitter helped define some of the many conventions that have become a mainstay of many social networks. A couple of examples of the items that have become standard are the @ symbol to indicate that you want to reply as well as the # for use as a hashtag to help identify a post for easier tracking.

Another area where these long-term users have helped Twitter is through the creation of third-party Twitter clients. Initially Twitter was just a website and provided an API for developers to connect to. These third party Twitter clients have allowed for different experiences and this is where many of the features that are used everyday are developed. One particular third-party client, Tweetie, was purchased by Twitter and became the official Twitter app.

Starting today, August 16th, 2018, many third-party clients will no longer be able to work as they had before. This is due to Twitter retiring a set of APIs that developers used to provide these features. A couple of the features that will no longer be available to third-party apps include real-time streaming, statistics, and instant direct messages.

For most users, this may not be noticeable, but for there are times that these features, like real-time streaming, come in handy. For many users, the biggest reason for continuing to use a third-party Twitter application is the reverse chronological timeline, which the official Twitter app and website no longer offer. Along with this, third-parties offer apps for the Mac, which Twitter also no longer offers.

What this will result in is that your timeline will only refresh every minute or two. Direct messages will also be delayed. For real-time events, which are often what Twitter is known for. All of these changes are designed to have people use the official Twitter client, which is makes sense given that there are ads in the official Twitter client, but not in third parties. However, these changes, along with others issues surrounding Twitter, has left many individuals questioning whether to continue to use the service or not.

Personally, for me, I am not sure what the end result will be. It is hard to abandon the service all together. This is not only because it is the social media service that I use the most, but also because it is where my biggest following is, ergo it is where I have the biggest reach for things like these posts as well as advertising my apps and books. At the same time, it is not hard to think that some of these moves will ultimately going to end up pushing away the group of users who helped Twitter get to where they are today. I get that the "super users" make up less than one percent of Twitter's overall base, but without them, Twitter would likely not be where it is today.

Normally Apple's quarterly results and financial related information is not posted to the site. This is because it is covered by a variety of sites like Six Colors and Dr. Drang.

However, today marks a big day in terms of Apple financials. Today Apple has become the first company to pass a $1 Trillion market valuation. Additionally, they have not just passed it, but when the market closed it was still above $1 Trillion.

Earlier in the day, if you were to use the Stocks app on your iPhone or iPad to look at the stock price, you would notice that the valuation indicated it was well above $1 Trillion, however this was an error.

The reason for this error is that yesterday Apple announced an adjustment to the number of outstanding shares, 4,829,926,000 shares to be exact. This would mean that in order to reach a $1 Trillion valuation Apple would need to hit $207.05 to officially get to the magic mark. It is a sight to behold given that a mere 22 years ago Apple was facing the possibility of going out of business entirely. Here is the correct valuation amount.

Earlier this week Apple sent out an email to affiliate members indicating some changes that will be taking place as of October 1st. Here is the email that was sent:

Thank you for participating in the affiliate program for apps. With the launch of the new App Store on both iOS and macOS and their increased methods of app discovery, we will be removing apps from the affiliate program. Starting on October 1st, 2018, commissions for iOS and Mac apps and in-app content will be removed from the program. All other content types (music, movies, books, and TV) remain in the affiliate program.

This will have some impact on some websites who rely on affiliate links from iOS apps, Mac apps, and in-app purchases to run their business. At least there is some heads up on this. This has been preceded by Apple reducing the payout from 7% to 2.5%. So it was inevitable that this would be the case that these would be removed.

I am not impact much by this because the website does not rely on affiliate links. I am curious to see how long the affiliate program lasts overall. I would not be surprised if it goes away in the future. It may take a couple of years, but it is possible that it will be stopped in the future.