A look back at the biggest Apple news this week.
This is Fortune’s weekly roundup of the biggest Apple news this week. To see last week’s roundup, click here.
Apple announced plans this week for a press event on Oct. 27, where the company is expected to announce new versions of its Macs. But Apple’s week was far more eventful than that.
In the last several days, Apple AAPL -0.41% has called itself a victim of alleged counterfeiting and is in Australia investigating a surfer’s claims that his iPhone 7 overheated and caught fire. Additionally, a number of reports said that the Apple Car may be dead and that future Apple laptops may look a lot different.
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Read on through the following recap to learn about all the big Apple news this week:
- Apple on Wednesday sent out invitations for a press event on Oct. 27 at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif. headquarters at 1 p.m. ET. While Apple hasn’t said what it has planned, the event’s “hello again” tagline (a reference to the “hello” branding Apple used to unveil the Macintosh in 1984), coupled with countless rumors over the last several months, suggest it’ll be a Mac-focused show. But as we detailed in a roundup of what to expect, Apple may also showcase new Apple TVs and other hardware. Click here to find out how you can watch the event live online.
- An Australian surfer is blaming his iPhone 7 for setting off a fire in his car. Mat Jones told local 7 News this week that he left the iPhone 7 in his car while he went to a surf lesson. When he came back, his car seats were burned and the pants he wrapped his iPhone 7 in were on fire. Apple is investigating the matter, but it hasn’t confirmed the cause of the incident.
- Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts spoke on stage this week at Fortune‘s Most Powerful Women Summit in Laguna Niguel, Calif. In a wide-ranging interview, Ahrendts discussed her vision for Apple’s retail stores, saying that they’re “now the biggest product” by the company. By the end of the year, she said that 95 stores worldwide would be redesigned to serve more as a “town square” than a traditional retail stores.
- The Apple Car may be dead. A Bloomberg report says Apple is working on self-driving car technology but will not actually build its own vehicle. For years, many people speculated was that Apple was working on its own autonomous vehicle, but Apple shifted focus to car technology in early 2016 after failing to overcome troubles with designing and engineering a car, according to the report.
- Apple is embroiled in a new lawsuit. Apple filed a lawsuit this week in federal court in California that accused a company named Mobile Star of selling “counterfeit” power adapters and chargers, among other accessories, onAmazon. Apple accuses the company of illegally selling the products under Apple’s brand name and trying to replicate its product designs, and packaging. Apple’s lawsuit alleges copyright and trademark infringement.
- According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, Apple plans to sell MacBooks that come with entirely different looking keyboards. Instead of being stamped with individual letters, the keys would be like digital screens that can also be used for non-English alphabets, emoji icons, and software command shortcuts. Apple would partner with Australian startup Sonder to help it deliver that feature, but it likely wouldn’t be available in MacBooks until 2018.
- In what would be a surprising move, a report this week saysApple will announce plans on Oct. 27 to remove traditional USB ports in the MacBook Pro. In its place, Apple will offer the newer USB Type-C ports, along with Thunderbolt 3. Both ports are compatible with newer external hard drives, displays, and other products, and are generally more versatile than traditional USB.
- If you have the technical know-how and want to jailbreak, or remove software restrictions on your iPhone, you’ll find a hidden keyboard lurking in iOS. The feature, which was uncovered by software developer Steve Troughton-Smith, lets users make Apple’s virtual keyboard better for typing with one hand. The feature is only available to users who jailbreak the iPhone, so if you’re running the standard iOS, you won’t be able to access it. Apple, meanwhile, hasn’t confirmed the keyboard’s existence.
- Speaking to Japanese news service Nikkei this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that he wanted Apple and its mobile-payment service Apple Pay to “be a catalyst for taking cash out of the system“—or, in other words, kill cash. Cook didn’t say how Apple Pay could kill paper currencies, but noted that he doesn’t think that consumers particularly like cash.One more thing…Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton considered Apple CEO Tim Cook as a vice presidential pick, according to an email made public by WikiLeaks. Other possibilities included Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and philanthropist Melinda Gates. Virginia Sen.Tim Kaine was eventually chosen.
[Source:-Fortune]