iOS 26 introduces two brand new apps for iPhone users, one of which is called ‘Apple Games.’ Here’s what the Games app does, including recent iOS 26.2 updates.

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Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

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I love the idea of a fully automated smart home setup where my lights turn on exactly when I need them, and the thermostat adjusts itself without me even thinking about it. In practice, however, there are times when you simply want to push a button for things to happen. For guests, babysitters, or when I don’t want to use my iPhone, physical controls remain the gold standard for interaction.

This week, let’s take a look at the Flic Hub LR and the new Flic Duo as a nice way to control your Apple Home scenes and devices.

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Years ago, Apple introduced a brand new Home app architecture for improving accessory reliability and enabling new features. The deadline for users to upgrade was originally last fall, then got pushed to February, and now Apple is reminding users of the deadline once again.

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Back in late 2022 and early 2023, Apple rolled out a new architecture for its Apple Home platform to deliver improved performance and compatibility, although the rollout came with some hiccups that forced Apple to pull and later re-release the upgrade.


Three years later, Apple is now on the verge of ending support for the old version of the Home architecture, which may result in access to the entire Home platform being blocked for some users if they do not or cannot update. The deadline for updating was originally announced as fall 2025, but in early November, Apple announced that it was pushing back the deadline to February 10, 2026.

It appears Apple will be sticking with that deadline, as the company is sending out fresh reminder emails today to users who have yet to upgrade to the new version of Apple Home.

This email serves as your second reminder that support for the earlier version of Apple Home will end next month on February 10, 2026.

If you do not update to this new version of Apple Home, your access to your home within the Home app might be blocked, accessories and automations might not work as expected, and you will not receive important security fixes and performance improvements. Updating to the new version of Apple Home can also enable new features, such as guest access, support for robot vacuum cleaners, Activity History, and more.

Users can update to the new version of Apple Home within the Software Update section of Home Settings in the Home app. If you have already completed these steps, or "This home and all accessories are up to date" is shown in Software Update, then you are already on the current version and there is nothing more you need to do.

Notably, the new version of Apple Home requires a minimum of iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, macOS 13.1, tvOS 16.2, and watchOS 9.2, and older devices that have not been or cannot be updated will lose access to the Apple Home after updating. This requirement has not sat well with some users who may use older devices as dedicated Home control devices, so many of these users have put off upgrading their Home architecture for as long as possible, but it now appears the reprieve is coming to an end.
This article, "Apple Reminding Users of Pending Home App Upgrade Requirement" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple has 20+ products in the works for 2026 launches, including four new iPhone models—one of which is expected to arrive very soon.

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We’re excited to introduce a new way for the 9to5Mac community to engage: 9to5Mac Forums. Here’s how it works and everything you need to know.

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In a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, Ben Ray Lujan, and Edward Markey have requested that Apple and Google remove X Corp's X and Grok apps from their app stores over recent incidents of "mass generation of nonconsensual sexualized images of women and children."


X has come under fire over the past week amid reports of Grok's AI image generation capabilities being used to create images depicting women and children in bikinis or underwear. In response, X appears to have scaled back the ability for Grok to generate images in response to X posts by non-paying users, but The Verge notes that the tools remain available to paying subscribers and through the dedicated Grok tab in the X and in the standalone Grok app.

The senators argue that the "harmful and likely illegal depictions" are in violation of Apple's and Google's app store terms and that the two companies must remove the apps until the policy violations are addressed.

. . . Apple's terms of service bar apps from including "offensive" or "just plain creepy" content, which under any definition must include nonconsensually-generated sexualized images of children and women. Further, Apple's terms explicitly bar apps from including content that is "[o]vertly sexual or pornographic material" including material "intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings."

Turning a blind eye to X's egregious behavior would make a mockery of your moderation practices. Indeed, not taking action would undermine your claims in public and in court that your app stores offer a safer user experience than letting users download apps directly to their phones. This principle has been core to your advocacy against legislative reforms to increase app store competition and your defenses to claims that your app stores abuse their market power through their payment systems.

The senators request a written response to their letter by January 23.
This article, "U.S. Senators Ask Apple and Google to Remove X and Grok Apps Over Sexualized Image Generation" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple this week secured another victory in its ongoing legal dispute with heart monitoring company AliveCor, after a federal appeals court upheld a 2024 ruling that found Apple's changes to the Apple Watch were lawful product improvements rather than anticompetitive behavior.


The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court decision that rejected AliveCor's antitrust claims. AliveCor had argued that Apple illegally monopolized the market for heart rate analysis apps on watchOS when it replaced its Heart Rate during Physical Observation (HRPO) algorithm with its heart rate neural network (HRNN) algorithm in watchOS 5.

AliveCor claimed that Apple changed the algorithm so that its ECG KardiaBand could no longer identify irregular heart rhythms – as part of an alleged effort to "eliminate opposition" in the heart rate analysis space – and requested that it reinstate the old algorithm.

Apple argued that AliveCor did not have the right to dictate Apple's design decisions, and that the request to support the older heart rate technology would require the court to be a day-to-day enforcer of how Apple engineers its products. The court ultimately agreed with Apple.

The Ninth Circuit has now affirmed Apple's victory. "The undisputed evidence shows as a matter of law that Apple's refusal to share HRPO data was not anticompetitive," the court wrote. It added that even if some form of heart rate data access were essential for competing in the market, AliveCor's claim would still fail because Apple provides app developers with access to the same Tachogram API data that Apple's Irregular Rhythm Notification feature uses.

The appeals court also rejected AliveCor's argument that Apple had a duty to share its proprietary data with competitors. The ruling said that antitrust laws generally impose no obligation for companies to deal with their rivals. It also noted that such a requirement "would implicate the same concerns regarding incentives to innovate and judicial competency that the Supreme Court has articulated."

The decision is Apple's second major win against AliveCor within the last year. In March, the Federal Circuit confirmed the invalidation of three AliveCor patents related to heart rate monitoring, vacating an International Trade Commission ruling that could have led to an Apple Watch import ban.

AliveCor said at the time of the court's original ruling that it was "deeply disappointed" by the decision and would continue to explore all available legal options, including potential appeals.
This article, "Apple Wins Another Round in AliveCor Legal Battle Over Heart Rate Tech" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Your iPhone uses preinstalled Apple apps by default for system actions like opening links, making phone calls, and more. But iOS lets you set new default apps in a variety of categories, and the available options expanded in iOS 26. Here are the details.

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The iPhone Air is the most exciting iPhone Apple has released since the iPhone X. It’s thin, lightweight, and amazingly designed, and for the first time in a long time, it’s different. Apple’s iPhone lineup has felt increasingly redundant. The iPhones have all looked and felt the same since the iPhone 11 lineup. So, excuse the pun, but the iPhone Air has been a genuine breath of fresh air. It prioritizes feel, design, and experience over chasing specs, and that is what makes it special. I put my main SIM card in the iPhone Air and, initially, I loved it. But after living with it day in and day out, two issues slowly but consistently stopped me from fully committing.

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My Mac history is … fairly lengthy, starting with the original Macintosh when it launched way back in 1984. I’m not sure I could even reliably count the number of models I’ve owned since then.

For most of the time since, I’ve owned one Mac at a time. There was a previous period when I owned two Macs, and a return to that approach last year has really paid off …

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Today’s 9to5Toys Lunch Break is now ready to roll down below. We have a chance to score Apple’s most affordable iPhone 16 Pro models at up to $320 off alongside its 16GB/1TB M5 MacBook Pro at nearly $200 off. Moving over to the wearable side of things, you will find Apple Watch Series 11 at up to $100 off right now alongside some solid price drops on a series of official bands too – the latest black and blue Trail Loops, the black and natural Milanese Loops, and this ongoing all-time low on the Anchor Blue Apple Watch Sport Loop. Everything else awaits below. 

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Three U.S. Senators have asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to temporarily remove X and Grok from the App Store due to “sickening content generation” in recent days.

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2026 could be a bumper year for Apple's Mac lineup, with the company expected to announce as many as four separate MacBook launches. Rumors suggest Apple will court both ends of the consumer spectrum, with more affordable options for students and feature-rich premium lines for users that seek the highest specifications from a laptop.


Below is a breakdown of what we're expecting over the next 12 months from Apple's multi-pronged MacBook offering. Got your eye on a particular model? Let us know in the comments what you're looking forward to most.

Low-Cost MacBook

Apple is preparing to enter the low-cost laptop market for the first time by developing a budget MacBook aimed at luring away customers from Chromebooks and entry-level Windows PCs, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The new device is said to be designed for students, businesses, and casual users, and will target people who mainly browse the web, work on documents, or dabble in light media editing.

The new MacBook is said to have a 13-inch display, similar to but slightly smaller than the MacBook Air, and will feature an ultra-thin, lightweight design with a lower-end LCD display. According to reputable industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is said to be using its A18 Pro chip to power the machine. The A18 Pro chip debuted in the iPhone 16 Pro and is around 40% slower than Apple's latest M4 chip, but its multi-core CPU performance is virtually identical to the M1 chip in the 2020 MacBook Air, and it even outperforms the M1 chip for graphics.

The A18 Pro chip lacks Thunderbolt support, so the new MacBook would likely be equipped with regular USB-C ports. The current 13-inch MacBook Air starts at $999 in the U.S., so the new MacBook would likely have a starting price of between $699 and $899. The more-affordable MacBook could also come in some fun new colors like Silver, Blue, Pink, and Yellow.

MacBook Pro With M5 Pro and M5 Max

Apple is going to refresh the rest of the MacBook Pro lineup with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips in early 2026, having already updated its base 14-inch MacBook Pro with a standard M5 chip in October. The M5 series is based on TSMC's third-generation 3-nanometer technology. Based on improvements to the base MacBook Pro with M5 chip, faster SSD performance and higher memory bandwith are also likely for the high-end models. No other major changes are expected, with Apple holding over a completely refreshed design until the M6 models.

If Apple retains current pricing levels, the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro chip will start at $1,999, while the 16-inch model with M5 Pro chip will start at $2,399. For the M5 Max equivalents, prices could start at $3,199 for the 14-inch model, and $3,499 for the 16-inch machine.

M5 MacBook Air

While the M4 MacBook Air model isn't exactly old, attention is already turning to its successor. The M5 series is reportedly being manufactured using TSMC's advanced 3-nanometer process technology, and we have some idea of what to expect in terms of performance, thanks to the recently released M5 iPad Pro: benchmarks show single-core scores around 4,133 and multi-core scores around 15,437. That's roughly a 12-15% jump over the M4 iPad Pro in both categories. As for graphics performance, the M5 chip appears to have up to a 36% faster GPU compared to the M4 chip.

The benchmark suggests Apple has focused on modest clock speed increases and core-level efficiency improvements for the M5 chip, rather than an architecture overhaul. In other words, the M5 will be similar to the step-wise performance upgrade from M3 to M4. Expect 10-15% faster CPU speeds, a slightly more powerful GPU, and better efficiency, potentially leading to even longer battery life.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Apple plans to roll out M5 versions of the MacBook Air in the first quarter of this year. Based on previous spring refreshes, this suggests a likely March 2026 window. As for pricing, we expect it to remain stable, with the base model sticking with the current entry-level $999 price.

MacBook Pro With Touchscreen OLED Display

Apple is reportedly developing a completely new version of the MacBook Pro packed with next-generation hardware features. The redesigned models are expected to boast M6 chips, which could adopt a completely new packaging based on TSMC's 2nm process that allows components such as the CPU, GPUs, DRAM, and Neural Engine to be more tightly integrated.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says Apple is readying OLED technology for these models. Compared to current MacBook Pro models that use mini-LED screens, the benefits of OLED technology would include increased brightness, higher contrast ratio with deeper blacks, improved power efficiency for longer battery life, and more. In addition, Gurman reports that the new machines will also have "thinner and lighter frames." Apple is apparently focusing on delivering the thinnest possible device without compromising on battery life or major new features.

The redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models are also expected to have a hole-punch camera at the top of the display, rather than the notch we've become accustomed to. Gurman says that the design "leaves a display area around the sensor... similar in concept to the Dynamic Island on the iPhone."

Apple's first OLED MacBook Pro will also feature a touchscreen display, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The claim has since been corroborated by Gurman, noting that the touchscreen MacBook Pro will retain a full trackpad and keyboard.

Research firm Omdia says Apple is "highly likely" to introduce new MacBook Pros featuring OLED displays this year, while Gurman has said the new OLED machines are being readied for late 2026 or early 2027. It would be unusual for Apple to introduce two ‌MacBook Pro‌ refreshes in the same year, but there is precedent for it: Apple updated the MacBook Pro lineup twice in 2023, first with M2 Pro/M2 Max chips in January and then with M3/M3 Pro/M3 Max chips in late October.

Due to the pricier components, the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros are expected to cost a few hundred dollars more than current versions. Today's models with high-end chips start at $1,999 for the 14-inch version and $2,499 for the 16-inch one.
This article, "Apple Is Expected to Launch These Four MacBooks in 2026" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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We tracked big discounts during the first full week of 2026, including a new record low price on the Apple Pencil Pro and pre-order discounts on Anker's just-announced collection of Nano chargers. Below you'll also find solid discounts on iPad mini 7, AirPods 4, and M5 MacBook Pro.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Anker

• What's the deal? Save on Anker's newest Nano chargers and more


• Where can I get it? Anker


• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

Anker announced a new series of products at CES this week, and most of them will begin rolling out to customers later in January. A few of these devices, including the Nano Docking Station and 45W Nano Charger, have pre-order discounts on Anker's website, and we're also tracking big discounts in Anker's New Year's sale.

Apple Pencil Pro

• What's the deal? Take $35 off Apple Pencil Pro


• Where can I get it? Amazon


• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

Apple Pencil Pro is available for its all-time low price of $92.97 this week on Amazon, down from $129.00. This beats the price we tracked over the holiday season by about $2, and right now it's only available on Amazon.

iPad Mini 7

• What's the deal? Take up to $109 off iPad mini 7


• Where can I get it? Amazon


• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

Amazon and Best Buy have a few discounts on the iPad mini 7 for the New Year, starting at $389.99 for the 128GB Wi-Fi tablet, down from $499.00. You'll also find a few deals on cellular models during this sale.

AirPods 4

• What's the deal? Take up to $99 off AirPods Max and AirPods 4


• Where can I get it? Amazon


• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

This week we tracked a few AirPods deals, including $29 off AirPods 4 and $99 off AirPods Max. Both of these are solid second-best prices on each model, and we haven't seen best-ever prices on these yet in 2026.

M5 MacBook Pro

• What's the deal? Take up to $199 of M5 MacBook Pro


• Where can I get it? Amazon


• Where can I find the original deal? Right here

Amazon this week dropped the price of the new M5 MacBook Pro to $1,449.00, down from $1,599.00. This is the 10-Core model with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD, and it's a solid second-best price on the M5 MacBook Pro.

If you're on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.

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This article, "Best Apple Deals of the Week: Save on Anker's Newest Nano Chargers, Plus Steep Discounts on M5 MacBook Pro and More" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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iOS 26 brings visual intelligence to screenshots, enabling several new features. But there’s one I only recently discovered that solves the common problem of plain text URLs you can’t easily tap to open.

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Mosyle, a popular Apple device management and security firm, has exclusively shared details with 9to5Mac on a previously unknown macOS malware campaign. While crypto miners on macOS aren’t anything new, the discovery appears to be the first Mac malware sample uncovered in the wild that contains code from generative AI models—officially confirming what was inevitable.

At the time of discovery, Mosyle’s security research team says the threat was undetected by all major antivirus engines. This comes nearly a year after Moonlock Lab warned about chatter on dark web forums indicating how large language models were being used to write malware targeting macOS.

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Apple may have fixes coming for iPhone Air 2 that address two major concerns with the first model: cameras and battery life. Here are the details.

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In December, without providing specific viewing figures of course, Apple said that Pluribus had become the most watched TV show in the history of the Apple TV streaming service.

The show has now also appeared in industry analytics firm Nielsen’s US streaming report. For the week commencing December 8, Pluribus came in at number 9 out of the top 10 streaming originals …

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Spam and cold calls have become such a nuisance that many people simply don't answer their phone unless they recognize the number. In iOS 26, though, you can learn about who's calling before you respond, thanks to a clever feature that intercepts unknown calls and asks the caller to identify themselves before your iPhone even rings.


The "Ask Reason for Calling" feature is kind of like having your own receptionist. When someone who isn't in your Contacts calls, your iPhone automatically answers the call with a polite automated message asking for their name and reason for calling. The caller is placed on hold while their response is transcribed to text and displayed on your screen, letting you decide whether to accept, decline, or ask for more information.

It's a decent upgrade from the existing "Silence Unknown Callers" option, which simply sends all unrecognized numbers straight to voicemail. With the new approach, legitimate callers – like your doctor or a delivery service – can identify themselves, whereas robocallers and spammers are likely to hang up when greeted by the automated response.

How to Enable Ask Reason for Calling

The following steps show you how to turn on the feature:

1. Open Settings on your iPhone.


2. Scroll down and tap Apps.


3. Select Phone.


4. Under the "Screen Unknown Callers" section, tap Ask Reason for Calling.

That's all there is to it. Your iPhone will now intercept calls from numbers not saved in your Contacts and request information before alerting you.

Other Unknown Caller Screening Options

If you don't want to use the new Ask Reason for Calling feature, iOS 26 offers two alternative approaches for handling unknown numbers:

• Silence: This option automatically sends all calls from unsaved numbers to voicemail. The calls still appear in your Recents list, and you'll receive the voicemail if the caller leaves one. It's the same behavior as the "Silence Unknown Callers" toggle in iOS 18.



• Never: With this setting, calls from unknown numbers ring normally, just like calls from saved contacts. Missed calls appear in your Recents list as usual. It's your typical iPhone calling experience.

To switch between these options, go to Settings ➝ Apps ➝ Phone, and select your preferred option under "Screen Unknown Callers."

The Ask Reason for Calling feature works best when you maintain an up-to-date Contacts list. Any number saved in Contacts will ring through normally without triggering the screening process, so make sure to add the details of legitimate contacts as soon as you know them.
This article, "Get Your iPhone to Ask Callers Who They Are Before You Answer" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple generally adds new emojis to the iPhone with iOS updates in spring. As spotted by the folks at Emojipedia this week, the Unicode Consortium recently published the full list of draft emojis that could debut next year.

Among the list of new additions are a smiley face with squinting eyes, a pickle, an eraser, and more.

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The Unicode Consortium has published a draft list of emoji that could come to smartphones and other devices in the future. The list shared by Emojipedia outlines 19 emoji candidates under consideration for Emoji 18.0, which is expected to be finalized in September 2026.


Among the proposed additions are a squinting face emoji, left- and right-pointing thumb gestures, a pickle, a lighthouse, a meteor, an eraser, and a net with a handle. The draft list also includes a monarch butterfly emoji, providing a more specific alternative to the existing generic butterfly.

Along with the 9 new emoji concepts, Emoji 18.0 would (if approved as currently proposed) add 10 additional skin tone variants tied to two of the base emoji. This would bring the total number of recommended emoji characters close to 4,000.

Emojipedia has shared sample artwork for many of the candidates, but Apple designers will need to create their own version of each character in the Apple style if the emoji are ultimately approved. As with previous draft lists, the proposed lineup is not final and may change during Unicode's review process.

Apple will need to roll out its own versions of the new emoji through software updates, so the new characters would likely arrive on iPhone in late 2026 or early 2027, as part of iOS 27.

Apple has consistently adopted new Unicode emoji in past software releases, and previously announced Unicode 17 additions are expected to come to Apple devices with the release of iOS 26.4, iPadOS 26.4, macOS 26.4, watchOS 26.4, and visionOS 26.4 in March or April this year.
This article, "Squinting Face, Pickle, and Lighthouse Among New Emoji Coming to iOS" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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The iPhone Fold will be the first Apple device to adopt a Samsung-made OLED technology called CoE (Color Filter on Encapsulation), which could make the display brighter and thinner than previous panels, reports The Elec.


In a traditional OLED panel, a polarizing film sits above the display to cut reflections and improve contrast. The drawback is that this film also absorbs some of the OLED's own light, reducing brightness and efficiency. With CoE, Apple would remove the polarizer entirely and instead apply the color filter directly onto the OLED's protective encapsulation layer.

The result would be a thinner display stack that lets more light through, delivering higher brightness without requiring more power. Removing layers would also mean less thickness overall, potentially contributing to a slimmer iPhone design.

According to The Elec, Apple plans to debut CoE with its foldable iPhone, which could launch as soon as late 2026, before expanding the technology to the iPhone Air 2 in 2027. The latter's release has reportedly been pushed back following weaker-than-expected sales of the original iPhone Air.

Whether CoE will be applied and whether the iPhone Air 2 will be released will be decided by the third quarter of this year, according to industry sources cited by the Korean-language report.

• iPhone Fold: Launch, Pricing, and What to Expect From Apple's Foldable

Samsung, meanwhile, plans to apply CoE not only to its foldable Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip models, but also to the Galaxy S26 Ultra, expected in the first quarter of this year. The S26 Ultra will be Samsung's first non-foldable smartphone to use the technology, which the company refers to internally as OCF (On-Cell Film).
This article, "iPhone Fold to Pave Way for Thinner, Brighter Display on iPhone Air 2" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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