Apple is inching closer to an iPhone release later this year. And there’s a chance the iPhone may be even cheaper than you’d expect.
The company this week released the iOS 12 Public Beta, allowing you to try out what it has planned for its upcoming mobile software release. The release came as reports surfaced that said Apple is considering the lowering the price on this year’s iPhones after the $1,000 iPhone X it released last year failed to sell as well as expected.
This is Fortune’s latest weekly roundup of the biggest Apple news. Here’s last week’s roundup.
But it wasn’t only about iPhones this week. Apple also revealed a new section for its News app that highlights coverage for this year’s midterm elections. And the company may even have a new HomePod speaker in the works.
Read on for all of that and more in this week’s Apple news roundup:
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- If you’re interested in trying out the new iOS 12 beta, now’s the time. Apple this week released the beta to the public, allowing anyone to try out the operating system’s new features, including a tool that analyzes how often you use your phone and which apps you’re most likely to use. Apple’s operating system is still being tested, however, so it could suffer from some bugs that could make your iPhone or iPad user experience a bit annoying. Keep that in mind.
- Apple may drop the starting iPhone X price to $900 this year, a $100 savings on last year’s iPhone X, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty predicted this week. Huberty told investors in a research note this week that Apple’s iPhone X was too expensive for some customers and by dropping its price to $900, the company could attract shoppers who think a $1,000 smartphone is too expensive.
- Apple News, the tech giant’s news-curation service, has added a new Midterm Elections section. The new area within the app provides the latest news and analysis on all the races in the upcoming midterm elections. Apple said that the content will include “fact-based stories” and include news from a variety of sources, including Fox News, Vice, and The New York Times.
- After waging a court battle spanning seven years and several continents, Apple and Samsung this week finally ended their patent dispute. While terms of the deal were not disclosed, the companies agreed to end all lawsuits that claimed patent infringement against each other over technology in their smartphones.
- Apple is working on new AirPods wireless earbuds that would offer noise-canceling and water-resistance, according to a Bloomberg report. The noise-canceling would reduce the amount of ambient noise you’d hear while wearing the AirPods and the water-resistance would mean you could wear the headphones in rain, according to the report. Additionally, Apple is said to be working on a new version of its HomePod smart speaker to be released in 2019. Details are limited about the HomePod, but Bloomberg said that Apple could switch to manufacturing company Inventec to produce it.
One more thing…Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak isn’t so fond of blockchain, the digital ledger that plays an important role in the Bitcoin cryptocurrency, among other technologies. He said at the NEX technology conference this week that he believes blockchain could meet the same fate as the dot-com bubble of the early 2000s.
